Ocado Intelligent Automation has officially opened its new North American Solutions Hub in Dallas, Texas, showcasing advanced AI-driven warehouse robotics and fulfillment systems.

OIA was created to provide systems and solutions developed and acquired by Ocado to non-food business segments seeking to transform their order fulfilment process in the supply chain.

Currently, this division has teams of engineers and development centres around the world, including Europe, North America and Scandinavia.

Located in Dallas-Fort Worth, 20 minutes from DFW International Airport, the hub has meeting rooms that can accommodate up to 24 people and can host training sessions, workshops and strategy sessions with customers, as well as live tech demonstrations.

OIA said it chose Dallas because it is one of the top distribution markets in the US and home to 613 million square feet of total distribution and storage space, citing data from Commercial Search.

At the opening on Wednesday, Ocado showcased its technology, including its automated storage and retrieval system, autonomous mobile robots, and on-grid robotic picking systems, which operated in real time in front of supply chain companies from the US and Canada.

During the presentation, OIA demonstrated how its Ocado storage and picking system aims to boost high-throughput order fulfilment operations in sectors where companies handle over 5,000 orders per day and more than 10,000 SKUs.

These include the pharmaceutical, healthcare, retail apparel and third-party logistics sectors.Ocado said that its presentation showcased how its autonomous mobile robots and on-grid robotic picking systems can complete tasks such as picking inventory containers and depositing them at picking stations, or deftly handling warehouse items, using AI-based reinforcement learning algorithms.

Using advanced sensors and computer vision, the robotic picking arms are able identify, pick, pack and organise items at up to 630 units per hour and seven orders at a time, the company said.

Monique Apter, chief revenue officer at OIA, emphasised how seeing these technologies in action can help companies visualise how modern AI-powered robotics can transform their operations.

"The Solutions Hub is a one-stop-shop where you can see what each OIA technology can do for your specific application,” she said. "That may be an automation system that processes 10,000 or 100,000 SKUs, or a grid that fills the whole warehouse floor."

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