eStore Logistics opens new fulfillment centre equipped with autonomous robots

MELBOURNE, Australia 14 July 2021 — Australia’s largest ecommerce fulfilment provider, eStore Logistics, has today announced the opening of its seventh fulfillment centre located at Dexus’s industrial estate, Horizon 3023, in Ravenhall, Victoria. The opening of this new fulfillment centre takes eStore Logistics’ warehousing footprint to over 100,000sqm across Australia.

Developed to help service Australia’s accelerated shift to online retail, the $28 million warehouse will be equipped with 75 AI powered Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) working in tandem with specialist staff to speed up deliveries. The AMRs will handle up to 40,000 orders each day from the 17,585sqm fulfillment centre, picking enough stock to fill approximately two Olympic-sized swimming pools each week.

This is eStore Logistics’ third fulfillment centre featuring the AI powered AMR picking technology and increases its fleet to over 250 robots.

The state of the art, automated warehouse will make the stock picking process up to four times faster than a traditional warehouse. It will provide more cost effective services and facilitate three hour-delivery for ecommerce orders that come in as late as 4pm.

The fulfillment centre has been designed to handle a wide variety of products sold online from small items that are shipped in a small mailer all the way up to large bulky items such as furniture and everything in between.

The new development comes at a unique time for the Australian ecommerce sector as it moves past the one year anniversary of COVID-19 coupled with a year of record-breaking online sales. New data from eStore Logistics shows that the conversion to online shopping is here to stay, with 51% growth in online orders in the last 12 months compared to the prior year.

eStore Logistics’ new warehouse will support the growth of key retail players, such as MyDeal and Bensons by adapting to meet constantly evolving consumer demands.

The fulfillment centre will be fully operational by September 2021 and create up to 80 jobs.

eStore Logistics Managing Director Leigh Williams said: “We’re thrilled to announce the opening of our seventh ecommerce fulfilment site. Automated robots have already significantly sped up the picking and packing process for our customers. However, what’s even more phenomenal is that these AI-powered robots are constantly learning — the more they work, the more data they have access to and the smarter they become.

“Automated warehousing takes customer satisfaction to a whole new level, allowing us to improve efficiency and ultimately democratise fast delivery for businesses of all sizes.

“As we scale, we’ll continue to invest in technology that grows and evolves to meet the increasing demands of the ecommerce industry.”

Dexus’s Head of Industrial Development Chris Mackenzie said: “We are pleased to welcome eStore Logistics to our Horizon 3023 estate in Ravenhall. We are passionate about working closely with our customers on the design and delivery of hi tech industrial spaces that support their business needs now and into the future and we look forward to working with eStore Logistics as they grow their Australian footprint.”

AMRs create a less labour-intensive and more efficient and safer working environment. Similar in form to household robotic vacuum cleaners, they travel quickly under shelves in the warehouse, simplifying the process of put-away, picking and packing.

Robots retrieve and store inventory automatically, removing the need for staff to walk the warehouse floor, or operate equipment to ship an order, which in turn reduces human error. Instead, AMRs bring inventory stored on shelves or pallets to a workstation, staffed by a member of the eStore Logistics’ team, for picking. The robots then automatically move the shelves away from workstations where they are stored for future retrieval and order fulfilment.

The warehouse was designed and customised by Dexus in conjunction with eStore Logistics and marks the second leasing deal the two companies have collaborated on in the past year. The first was a 26,600sqm facility developed at Foundation at Truganina Estate which was completed in mid-2020.