Ocado Engineering reshapes retail with robotics and automation

If prompted to name a UK company at the cutting edge of robotics and automation, few of us would cite one of the country’s best-known grocery retailers.

But, as The Engineer learned on a recent visit to one of its key facilities, online supermarket Ocado is establishing a reputation as a major technology player: harnessing and developing machine-learning systems, Internet of Things concepts and robotic hardware to a degree that leaves many traditional engineering businesses in the shade.

Founded in 2000, the firm turned a profit for the first time in 2015 and is steadily growing its share in the UK’s enormous £179bn grocery market, processing nearly a quarter of a million shopping orders per week from its three giant customer fulfilment centres (CFCs) around England.

With most of Ocado’s big-name competitors losing money on their online operations, this success is no mean feat and is due largely to a relentless investment in technology development that enables it to process orders more rapidly and cost-efficiently than its competitors.