Ocado Took Its First Steps With AutoStore — Now Inviting Bids
The AutoStore system purchased by Ocado and installed by Swisslog at its general merchandise distribution centre in Erith, southeast London, is now becoming available for sale and relocation.
Installed during 2017 and commissioned in 2018, the system remains in active operation within Ocado’s UK distribution network. This gives prospective purchasers the unusual opportunity to evaluate the AutoStore installation in its existing working environment before dismantling and relocation begin.
The system does not necessarily need to be redeployed in its current configuration. The AutoStore grid and surrounding equipment can potentially be reconfigured, resized and adapted to suit a different building, storage requirement and operating profile.
Warehouse Automation Canada can assist with evaluating the existing system, developing a revised layout for a new facility, redesigning the surrounding material-flow concept, defining the required software architecture, and developing the interface strategy required to connect the AutoStore system with the purchaser’s WMS, WES or other warehouse systems.
A showing of the system is expected to take place soon while it is still operating. The system is currently expected to remain in operation through the end of 2026, with dismantling and relocation expected to begin in early 2027.
Current photographs of the installation are included below, followed by the available technical specifications.
For additional information, or to express interest in attending the upcoming showing, please use the contact button below.
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| System type | AutoStore cube-storage system |
| Robot generation | Version 5.0 |
| Number of robots | 94 |
| Number of robot chargers | 94 |
| Number of bins | 72,108 |
| Bin dimensions | 330 mm external height; internal dimensions 600 × 400 × 310 mm |
| Grid dimensions | Approximately 51 m long × 38 m wide × 5.4 m high |
| Number of bins high | 16 |
| Total grid cells | 6,264 |
| Suitable storage locations | 4,780 |
| Non-storage grid cells | 1,484 |
| Non-storage cell allocation | Robot charging locations, insufficient grid depth, structural joints, inbound and outbound port locations, buffer cells and other design limitations |
| Track configuration | Single/double-track configuration |
| Number of workstations/ports | 21 |
| Workstation/port types | 14 CarouselPorts and 7 ConveyorPorts |
| Mezzanine configuration | TBA |
| Mezzanine included with system | TBA |
| Installation date | Installed throughout 2017 |
| Commissioning date | Commissioned and handed over on July 11, 2018 |
| Operating schedule | Approximately 20 hours per day |
| Robot charging | Top-up charging during operation, plus approximately four hours of continuous charging |
| Robot batteries | All batteries reportedly replaced; the majority were replaced in 2021 |
| Battery replacement records | Battery tracker available upon request |
| Current condition | Fully assembled, installed and operational |
| Expected end of operation | January 2027 |
| Live demonstration | Available by arrangement |
| Products handled | General merchandise |
| Spare-parts list | Available upon request |
| Included equipment and components | TBA |
| Electrical requirements | Power required for the AutoStore Controller, robot chargers, ports, PLC and service PC |
| Safety system | ASIO manages access doors and emergency stops. Connection to the fire alarm shuts down the system. |
An Interesting Piece of AutoStore History
There is an interesting piece of warehouse automation history behind this particular AutoStore system.
Today, Ocado is best known in the automation industry for the Ocado Smart Platform and its own cube-based robotic storage technology. But before developing and commercializing its own system, Ocado was an AutoStore customer.
Ocado purchased its first AutoStore system in 2012. As its general merchandise business expanded, it subsequently selected AutoStore again, working with Swisslog on a second installation in southeast London. That system, commissioned in 2018, is the 72,108-bin, 94-robot installation discussed here. Swisslog described AutoStore at the time as the “tried and trusted technology” Ocado selected to maintain alignment between its two general merchandise distribution centres.
What happened afterward became one of the more interesting chapters in warehouse automation history.
Ocado went on to develop its own cube-based automated storage technology, and AutoStore and Ocado ultimately became direct competitors. Beginning in 2020, the two companies became involved in extensive patent litigation in the UK, United States and Europe concerning their respective technologies. The litigation produced different findings across jurisdictions before the companies reached a global settlement in July 2023, including a cross-licence covering portions of each company's pre-2020 patent portfolios.
That history makes this system particularly interesting.
The AutoStore installation now becoming available is not simply a used automation system. It represents an earlier chapter in the evolution of cube-based warehouse automation — a period when Ocado itself selected AutoStore technology for an important part of its distribution network, before the two companies eventually emerged as competitors in the same technology category.