A newly launched robotic fulfillment center in Oberhausen, Germany, is setting a new benchmark for automated online grocery logistics in Europe.
Developed for online supermarket Picnic, the 50,000-square-meter facility is capable of handling up to 33,000 online orders per day, serving approximately 200,000 households per week across the Ruhr region. The investment into the project is reported at 150 million euros, reflecting growing demand for efficiency, speed, and scalability in the online grocery sector. The site integrates over 21 kilometers of conveyor systems and utilizes around 1,500 autonomous robots to manage goods across three temperature zones: frozen, chilled, and ambient.
Orders begin processing at more than 60 ergonomic picking workstations or dedicated high-throughput areas for fast-moving items. The system consolidates orders into a staging buffer before robotic systems load completed totes into transport frames for delivery to regional distribution hubs.
By integrating multiple automation technologies across temperature-controlled zones, the site is designed to maintain high product quality while maximizing order throughput and labor efficiency. When fully scaled, the facility could support up to 1,000 new jobs in the region.
Picnic, which launched operations in Germany in 2018 and recently expanded into the Nuremberg area, describes the new fulfillment center as its most advanced to date. The company continues to deliver groceries via electric vehicles using an app-based ordering model built around next-day delivery and precisely timed delivery windows.
This facility marks a significant milestone in the evolution of e-grocery infrastructure in Europe—demonstrating how automation can support rapid growth while maintaining service consistency in a complex, high-volume operation.
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