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* Has developed lighter robots and warehouse grids
* Also developed on-grid robotic arms to pick products
* Says innovations will attract more partners
* Shares up 5.4%
(Adds CEO comments, shares)
By James Davey
LONDON, Jan 26 (Reuters) - From lightweight robots to
hi-tech van routing systems, British online supermarket Ocado
unveiled a suite of innovations on Wednesday it predicted would
raise its returns and win new customers for its technology.
Ocado has already struck deals to provide its
technology to supermarket groups in eight countries, including
Kroger in the United States, Aeon in Japan,
Casino in France and Coles in Australia,
driving its market value to 10.7 billion pounds ($14.5 billion).
The stock was up 5.4% at 1558 GMT.
The latest innovations include a robot that is 80% lighter
than its predecessor and described by the company as "the
world's lightest and most efficient grocery fulfilment bot,"
plus lighter warehouse grids for the bots to run on.
It said robotic arms had also been developed that work with
the bots to automate the picking and packing of customer orders
directly from the grid.
The firm expects the robotic arms to be capable of picking
close to 50% of its product range by the end of next year and
80% in the long run.
Ocado has also automated the process of the loading of
customer orders onto delivery frames ready for dispatch.
Other innovations include a routing system that enables the
delivery of both short lead-time orders and larger, longer
lead-time orders from the same van, and a virtual distribution
centre that cuts the costs associated with in-bound stock.
"GAME-CHANGING"
CEO Tim Steiner, who co-founded Ocado two decades ago, said
the new capabilities would allow the group and its partners to
install platforms much faster and in simpler, highly optimised
buildings, requiring lower capital expenditure.
He said partners would also be able to achieve greater
product throughput from the same or smaller building footprint,
reduce their labour costs by 30% in the medium term and 40% in
the long term and address labour shortage challenges.
"We've shattered the trade-off between big warehouses and
small warehouses, creating a way for small warehouses to operate
close to the customer but at the same time sharing the economics
of a large warehouse," Steiner told Reuters.
He said any warehouses that partners want to open from the
end of 2023 will be able to take advantage of all of the new
capabilities. All the innovations can also be retrofitted to
existing partners' warehouses.
"For Ocado the game-changing capabilities... mean that we'll
be able to grow our current opportunity as well as reach new
types of markets and penetrate them faster than would have been
possible previously," added Steiner.
($1 = 0.7400 pounds)
(Reporting by James Davey
Editing by Mark Potter, Alexandra Hudson)
