A 360° tour of Ocado’s automated warehouse.

Ocado’s automated warehouses, also known as customer fulfillment centers (CFCs), use a variety of technologies to efficiently store and pick products for orders. These technologies include:

Robotic arms: These are used to move items around the warehouse and to pick items off of shelves.
Conveyor belts: These are used to transport items within the warehouse.
Automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS): These are used to store and retrieve items from the warehouse’s storage racks.
Barcode scanners: These are used to identify and track products as they move through the warehouse.
Computerized inventory management systems: These are used to keep track of the warehouse’s inventory and to help plan and optimize the pick and pack process.

Ocado’s automated warehouse is filled with automation. If you haven’t heard of Ocado you will. It is the world’s largest online-only supermarket.

Supply Chain Automation Quotes

“Without change there is no innovation, creativity, or incentive for improvement. Those who initiate change will have a better opportunity to manage the change that is inevitable.” ~ William Pollard.
“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.” ~Bill Gates, co-founder Microsoft.
“Supply Chain automation using emerging technologies such as IoT and artificial intelligence will drive efficiency like we have never seen before.” ~Dave Waters.
“Lets go invent tomorrow instead of worrying about what happened yesterday.” ~ Steve Jobs, co-founder Apple Inc.
“I’m interested in things that change the world or that affect the future and wondrous, new technology where you see it, and you’re like, ‘Wow, how did that even happen? How is that possible?’” ~Elon Musk, CEO Tesla.
“Eighty-five percent of the reasons for failure are deficiencies in the systems and process rather than the employee. The role of management is to change the process rather than badgering individuals to do better.” ~W. Edwards Deming.
I think we see the merging of several worlds, the tech industry, the internet and the automotive industry. These two worlds merging is like a smart phone on wheels, or you can say it’s a car that has many of the capabilities of smart phones and computers and so on.” ~Dieter Zetsche