US retailer Kroger has announced plans to adapt its customer fulfilment centres (FCs) with technology from Ocado Group’s automation division (Ocado Intelligent Automation), with the aim of boosting efficiency and productivity.
One of the technologies the company said will be introduced at the sites is Ocado’s On-Grid Robotic Pick and Automated Frameload technologies.
In September last year, Kroger announced it would be slowing down its establishment of automated FCs in partnership with Ocado. The pair’s partnership dates back to 2018, with Kroger then committing to open 11 FCs by the end of 2022. So far, eight have become operational.
However, the company still seeks to make savings on labour, as well as other overall improvements to the cost-effectiveness of its e-commerce operations, through automation from Ocado.
Ocado’s On-Grid Robotic Pick uses a robotic arm with machine vision and sensing capabilities, which help it to pick and pack items with high precision.
According to Ocado, the solution can handle more than 70% of a typical digital grocery retailer’s product offering and enhance overall packing efficiency.
The automated frameload technology was developed to automate the loading of customer orders onto delivery frames and then use computer vision to adjust in real-time. This eliminates the need for manual labour as part of this process, which can be very physically demanding.
