Broccolini is looking to the sky: the proposed development would have a height as high as 98 feet, which translates to a building nearly nine storeys tall.

He did say the current proposal is meant to rezone the site specifically for e-commerce distributors – a similar use case to Broccolini’s one-million-square-foot warehouse built for Amazon on Boundary Road.

The rise of e-commerce has meant a shift in focus in industrial-use builds from square footage to cubic footage noting the firm is also building a Montreal facility now with a height of 120 feet.

Key Takeaways

The pressure is on for retailers to satisfy consumers’ ecommerce demands in a cost-effective manner.

Automated micro fulfillment centers, using artificial intelligence and robotics, can help maximize the efficiencies of online grocery delivery and pickup.

Speed, productivity and better control over inventory are among the advantages of micro fulfillment for grocers.

As two-day delivery turns into same-day or even one-hour delivery — now offered by some grocers as well as Amazon, Walmart and Target on certain items — the pressure is on for retailers to satisfy consumer demands in a cost-effective manner.

“Right now, delivery is too inefficient, and the manual labor of walking up and down the aisles to do it is sucking all the life and all the profit out of their grocery business,” says Steve Hornyak, chief communications officer of Israel-based CommonSense Robotics, recently renamed Fabric. “With them using third parties or even themselves, fundamentally they’re losing money on every online transaction that they’re fulfilling.”

Enter one solution: automated micro fulfillment centers. Combining artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics at a location already close to the consumer, such as an existing store, can help maximize the efficiencies of online grocery delivery and pickup.

Some grocers have already embraced micro fulfillment centers, or are in the process of building them: Miami-based Hispanic grocer Sedano’s; Wakefern Food Corp. banner ShopRite, operating in the Northeast; Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons; and Ahold Delhaize USA banner Stop & Shop are just a few.

Though it could be dismissed as an attention-grabbing stunt, the feat was another step forward for robotics research. Many researchers believe it was an indication that they could train machines to perform far more complex tasks. That could lead to robots that can reliably sort through packages in a warehouse or to cars that can make decisions on their own.

Harik is responsible for the design and implementation of the company’s integrated technology infrastructure. With a technology budget of more than $550 million, Harik and the XPO Logistics team of 1,800 technology professionals address issues across the areas of transportation, warehousing, last-mile deliveries, and inventory management.

Coles chief executive Steven Cain has defended the retailer's $150 million partnership with UK online grocery retailer Ocado amid claims its centralised fulfilment model is inferior to the micro-fulfilment model adopted by Woolworths.

When Coles signed a long-term deal with Ocado in March Mr Cain said he expected the partnership, which includes a new website and two automated centralised fulfilment centres, would boost online sales by about $1 billion, double its home-delivery capacity, reduce cost-to-serve and lead to improved profit margins for Coles Online.

All the products, that previously were stored on shelves, are now stored inside AutoStore ­– a three-dimensional grid construction consisting of multiple product bins. Whenever an order is to be picked, automated robots retrieve the bins containing the requested products and present them to the warehouse team at their work stations.

While only a handful of micro-fulfillment centers are up and running in grocery stores in the U.S. at this time, sources anticipate a rapid rollout in the next two years behind a growing belief that delivery hubs close to customers—such as stores—and less-labor intensive solutions such as automation are going to be necessary to meet demand for e-commerce quickly and profitably

There has been growing use of automated truck loading systems for loading and unloading of goods or materials. This reduces labor cost, minimizes product damage, optimizes time management and ensures high efficiency in the supply chain. Traditionally, the manual truck loading process was adopted in the industries; however, labor scarcity manifests a major hurdle. As a result, it has emerged as the strongest factor pushing for consolidation and automation in logistics operations. Consequently, there is a steady rise in the adoption rate of automated truck loading systems in many industries, such as food & beverage, paper, automotive, dairy, chemical-cosmetic, pharmaceutical, electrical, glass, tobacco, and general manufacturing.

Longer-established technologies can be said to be the ones that brought about “mechanised” automation, which has become more sophisticated over time, integrating electronics and computer technologies into it.

Although there’s probably no clear distinction, “robotic” automation can probably be defined as the point at which mechanical machines become more autonomous.

For example, a typical warehouse robot can find its own way round a warehouse, taking items to and from human workers who usually do the order-picking, and then take itself to the charging station and prepare itself for the next phase of work.

We are also engaging with customers to drive down our environmental impact and help us differentiate DHL from our competitors. 2018 saw the inclusion of green solutions in around 11% of DHL Supply Chain customer wins (representing €471 million worth of annualised revenue), an exciting first step towards our 2025 goal where we aim to have more than half of our sales incorporate contractual green solutions. I’m confident that 2019 will see another leap forward for us.

Let’s not forget about Information Security either, as we need to provide secure IT solutions that support our customers; and Data Protection to both DHL Supply Chain and customer information. We constantly assess and mitigate a wide range of threats to reduce risk and maximise the effectiveness and efficiency of our business

Most companies that have attempted to implement automated material handling equipment have discovered that these projects can be particularly vulnerable to Murphy’s Law, the principal that, “anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” This blog is fourth in an ongoing series on “Beating Murphy’s Law in Warehouse Automation Projects.”

Automation is on the rise in industrial facilities, food processing plants and cold storage warehouses. At Stellar, we’ve seen more client requests for automation in the past year than ever before.

When people think of automation and cost savings, the obvious usually comes to mind first: labor costs. Projected minimum wage increases and the scarcity of people willing to work in a cold storage environment are driving more owners to invest in automation.

But automating your warehouse can yield more savings beyond just the payroll.

“Economically viable mobile manipulation robots from the likes of RightHand Robotics and Kindred Systems are now enabling a wider variety of individual items to be automatically picked and placed within a fulfillment operation,” said ABI Research. “By combining mobile robots, picking robots, and even autonomous forklifts, fulfillment centers can achieve greater levels of automation in an efficient and cost-effective way.”

Retail giant Walmart Canada has unveiled what it calls its new Urban Supercentre Concept store in Toronto which integrates ecommerce, third-party licensees, state-of-the-art technology, and an updated assortment into a new bricks-and-mortar design and layout for urban markets.

The retailer’s Toronto-Stockyards location will be home for the new prototype store which is introducing “Fast Lane” - new technology that will allow customers to use the My Walmart app on their mobile device to shop and checkout quickly and seamlessly.

Amazon, the world’s largest retailer, is one of the leaders when it comes to the adoption of robotic technology and automation. It all began with the acquisition of the warehouse robotics company Kiva Systems in 2012, and the retail giant hasn’t looked back since. Today, Amazon operates 110 warehouses, 45 sorting centers, and 50 delivery stations across the United States, where a growing number of jobs are succumbing to automation. The company’s warehouses are now populated by more than 100,000 robots that perform a wide variety of tasks, such as raising pallets of goods to upper levels, or carrying shelves filled with merchandise to human workers.

E-commerce, growing at 15 percent a year, is driving a second boom in Georgia’s robust warehousing and logistics industry, which employs about 118,000 packers and material handlers across the state. Companies setting up ready-to-ship warehouses here last year included Target’s furniture line, Wayfair home furnishings and Dynacraft bikes and scooters. Amazon has four “fulfillment” centers scattered from Braselton to Macon. E-commerce, growing at 15 percent a year, is driving a second boom in Georgia’s robust warehousing and logistics industry, which employs about 118,000 packers and material handlers across the state. Companies setting up ready-to-ship warehouses here last year included Target’s furniture line, Wayfair home furnishings and Dynacraft bikes and scooters. Amazon has four “fulfillment” centers scattered from Braselton to Macon.

Once complete, the development would include a refrigerated warehouse, a distribution center and administrative offices, totaling just over 540,000 square feet. 

TokoCabang will take care of storage, order receipts, buyer support, product packaging, and product delivery to logistics agents. The Alibaba-backed company already has warehouse facilities spread across Indonesia, according to its website.

To use the service, stores will have to register for monthly subscription, which will cost 3,000 rupiah (US$0.21) per item for products to be kept in Tokopedia’s warehouses for above 60 days.