Kroger Boosting Efficiency, Labor Productivity With New CFC Technology
The Kroger Co. is aiming to bolster productivity at its network of customer fulfillment centers (CFCs) with the addition of new technology from Ocado Group. The Cincinnati-based grocer will implement a wide range of new automated technologies at CFCs in its existing network, as well as those still in the pipeline.
Ocado Group’s “Re:imagined” technologies include On-Grid Robotic Pick (OGRP) and Automated Frameload (AFL), which the retail technology company says will bring new levels of efficiency and labor productivity to Kroger’s grocery delivery network by driving down its cost to serve from CFCs and enhancing its customer proposition.
"We are delivering a step-change in warehouse automation and new levels of efficiency to our partners as global supply chains are under significant pressure to manage higher volumes and greater complexity, as well as challenges in labor cost and availability,” said Tim Steiner, CEO of Ocado Group.
“Today marks another exciting milestone in our partnership with Kroger,” continued Steiner. “Our current CFCs are already helping to deliver a game-changing quality of service to their customers across the USA. We are excited for these latest technologies to further enhance that proposition, as well as the efficiency of Kroger's operations in live and future CFCs.”
Ocado Group further shared information on the functionality of the new technologies.
OGRP is a robotic arm that is installed directly on the grid. The bots operating on the grid deposit stock next to the robot arms to be packed into customer bags. Retail partners can stock up to 50,000 different products each. Advanced machine vision, deep reinforcement learning, and sensing capabilities enable OGRP to pick tens of thousands of products and pack them densely into bags with precision and accuracy.
AFL automates the loading of prepared customer orders onto delivery frames ready for dispatch. The technology enables the efficient and accurate loading of delivery totes without human touch. Computer vision examines the tote and the frame, forms an understanding of the dimensions and shape of the tote and enables alignment with the frame, making direction adjustments in real time to push the tote in.
Kroger's nearly 420,000 associates serve over 11 million customers daily through a digital shopping experience and retail food stores under a variety of banner names. The Cincinnati-based company is No. 4 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. PG also named Kroger among its Retailers of the Century.
