Ocado uncloaks revolutionary new technology for online grocery fulfillment
Tim Steiner, the chief executive of Ocado, said the new technology was a “game changer”. Photograph: Ocado/PA
Ocado innovates to deliver growth offering new platform featuring micro-fulfillment options, lighter bots, robotic piece-picking, sophisticated inventory software, and hi-tech routing
LONDON — From lightweight robots to hi-tech van routing systems, British online supermarket Ocado unveiled a suite of innovations on Wednesday it predicted would raise its returns and win new customers for its technology.
The latest innovations include a robot that is 80% lighter than its predecessor and described by the company as “the world’s lightest and most efficient grocery fulfillment bot,” plus lighter warehouse grids for the bots to run on.
Ocado's new 600 Series bot pic.twitter.com/aW9Ed5s7RD
— George Nott (@georgepnott) January 26, 2022
It said robotic arms that pick groceries directly from the grids had also been developed, automating the most labor intensive job in the warehouses Ocado builds.
The firm expects the robotic arms to be capable of picking close to 50% of its product range by the end of next year and 80% in the long run.
Ocado has also automated the process of the loading of customer orders onto delivery frames ready for dispatch.
Other innovations include a routing system that enables the delivery of both short lead-time orders and larger, longer lead-time orders from the same van.
We cannot wait to show the world what our teams have been working on! Don’t miss our biggest ever product launch tomorrow. Register now ➡️ https://t.co/iwiFl8vTts#OcadoReimagined #OcadoTechnologyPioneers https://t.co/c7ltqFpaCP
— Ocado Technology (@OcadoTechnology) January 25, 2022
CEO Tim Steiner, who co-founded Ocado two decades ago, said the new capabilities would allow the group and its partners to install platforms much faster and in simpler, highly optimized buildings, requiring lower capital expenditure.
He said partners would also be able to achieve greater product throughput from the same or smaller building footprint, have lower labor costs and address labor shortage challenges.
“We’ve shattered the trade-off between big warehouses and small warehouses, creating a way for small warehouses to operate close to the customer but at the same time sharing the economics of a large warehouse,” Steiner told Reuters.
He said any warehouses that partners want to open from the end of 2023 will be able to take advantage of all of the new capabilities. All the innovations can also be retrofitted to existing partners’ warehouses.
TWO NEW PRODUCTS - Ocado Swift Router and Ocado Orbit.
— George Nott (@georgepnott) January 26, 2022
This is a software play. Swift Router. The hive picks longer lead time items over night. Decides in morn which van route to put them on. For last minute orders - can be picked by hive up until last possible moment.
Ocado has already struck deals to provide its technology to supermarket groups in eight countries, including Kroger in the United States, Aeon in Japan, Casino in France and Coles in Australia, driving its market value to 10.7 billion pounds ($14.5 billion).
Updated Story:
Online grocery specialist Ocado has developed robots which it says will enable cheaper, faster deliveries and help with labour shortages by requiring fewer staff in its warehouses.
Tim Steiner, the chief executive of Ocado, said the new technology was a “game changer” that would enable the group’s retail partners to automate picking in smaller local warehouses and provide a “compelling immediacy proposition” that could take on the likes of Getir, Deliveroo and GoPuff, the fast-track food couriers which have grown rapidly during the pandemic.
A robotic picking arm, expected to be introduced in new and some existing warehouses from the end of this year, could reduce the need for workers to pick and pack groceries into shoppers’ bags by up to half initially, and 80% longer term.
Another new system, which will automatically pack totes of groceries destined for shoppers homes into crates ready to be loaded onto vans, will reduce labour costs by 30% and could replace manual labour entirely in this role.
Steiner said the new technologies were “transformational in the market and really drive our innovation forward” in a way that would “shatter the existing rules of the industry”.
He said: “All companies we are working with are having challenges employing enough people to work.” He said most warehouses were still not at full capacity, and so new technology would mean that workers could be redeployed from certain jobs to others and he did not expect waves of redundancies.
Ocado has also designed a new lighter and cheaper version of its grocery picking robots which buzz about on top of a cubic grid known as “the hive” which stores products ready for distribution.
The 600 series robots will be five times lighter than their predecessors so that they can work on more lightweight grid systems in smaller warehouses around the world.
Steiner said as the systems would not require specially built warehouses, unlike its current grid system, so Ocado’s technology could be set up more quickly for its clients, which include Marks & Spencer in the UK and Kroger in the US. With over half of their parts 3D printed, the robots can also be more easily made around the world.
These robots are intended to be combined with new software systems that will enable local delivery vans to be loaded more quickly, mixing orders made less than an hour before they set off with those made the night before. That will enable quick deliveries to be made much more efficiently.
Software will also link up smaller warehouses to create a system where products delivered to one can be shared between several locations to help improve efficiency.
Steiner said Ocado envisioned providing “a service that could have a supermarket range s of 10.000 to 15,000 products available in the time frame of a rapid delivery could provide at the same price of a Sainsbury Local [convenience store]”.
