LOUISVILLE, Ky., Jan. 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kroger Co.
(NYSE: KR), America's largest grocery retailer, today announced it
will offer more Americans delivery through the addition of a
spoke facility in Louisville, Kentucky powered by the Ocado Group (LSE:
OCDO) and combining vertical integration, machine learning, and
robotics to provide an affordable, friendly, and fast fresh food
delivery service as part of the company's seamless ecosystem.
"We're proud to expand the Kroger fulfillment network to
Louisville," said Gabriel Arreaga, Kroger's senior vice president
and chief supply chain officer. "The new service is an innovative
addition to the expanding digital shopping experience available to
Kroger customers. The network's delivery spoke facility will
provide unmatched customer service and improve access to fresh food
in areas eager for the variety and value offered by Kroger direct
to their homes."
"I want to thank leaders at Kroger not only for this
announcement, but also for their continued commitment to the
commonwealth over many years," Kentucky Gov. Andy
Beshear said. "Kroger has long been a vital part of
Kentucky's growing economy, and
this new location helps ensure that will continue to be the case
for years to come. I'm grateful for the company's expanding
presence in our state."
The 50,000-square-foot spoke facility located on Robards
Lane in Louisville will
collaborate with the hub in Monroe,
Ohio and serve as a cross-dock to connect customers
with fresh food. The facility is expected to become operational
later this year and will employ up to 161 full-time associates.
Louisville Mayor, Greg Fischer, said of this new investment,
"Today's announcement is the latest way that Kroger is showing its
commitment to the Louisville
market. Kroger has long been a valued partner in our community,
providing jobs, reinvesting in our city through continued growth,
and giving back through its charity. Thank you to the Kroger
team!"
Kroger Delivery Explained
The expansion in
Louisville represents an extension
of a partnership between Kroger and Ocado, a world leader in
technology for grocery e-commerce. In 2018, the companies announced
a collaboration to establish a delivery network that combines
artificial intelligence, advanced robotics and automation in a bold
new way, bringing first-of-its-kind technology to America. Kroger
Chairman and CEO Rodney McMullen
said Kroger Delivery "underpins the permanent shift in grocery
consumer behavior and elevates our position as one of America's
leading e-commerce companies." Through the delivery network, the
company now serves customers in Florida, as an example, without traditional
brick-and-mortar stores.
The delivery network relies on highly automated fulfillment
centers. At the "hub" sites, more than 1,000 bots whizz around
giant 3D grids, orchestrated by proprietary air-traffic control
systems in the unlicensed spectrum. The grid, known as The
Hive, contains totes with products and ready-to-deliver
customer orders.
As customers' orders near their delivery times, the bots
retrieve products from The Hive and are presented
at pick stations for items to be sorted for delivery, a process
governed by algorithms that ensures items are intelligently packed.
For example, fragile items are placed on top, bags are evenly
weighted, and each order is optimized to fit into the lowest number
of bags, reducing plastic use.
After being packed, groceries are loaded into a
temperature-controlled delivery van, which can store up to 20
orders. Powerful machine learning algorithms optimize delivery
routes, considering factors such as road conditions and optimal
fuel efficiency. Vans may travel up to 90 miles with orders from
the hub and spoke facilities to make deliveries. Associates at the
spoke facility will deliver orders within their service area,
adding ZIP codes as demand grows.
Kroger unveiled the Monroe
customer fulfillment center in April of 2021, its first, followed
by another in Groveland, FL and
Forest Park, GA (Atlanta). The fulfillment network plans
additional customer fulfillment centers in California, Dallas,
TX, Frederick, MD,
Phoenix, AZ, Pleasant Prairie, WI, Romulus, MI (Detroit), as well as South Florida and the Northeast.
Media Assets
To download Kroger Delivery photography
and video, visit here.
About Kroger
At The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), we are
Fresh for Everyone™ and dedicated to our Purpose: To Feed the Human
Spirit®. We are, across our family of companies, nearly half a
million associates who serve over 11 million customers daily
through a seamless shopping experience under a variety of banner
names. We are committed to creating #ZeroHungerZeroWaste
communities by 2025. To learn more about us, visit our newsroom and
investor relations site.
About Ocado Group
Ocado Group is a UK based technology
company admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange (Ticker
OCDO). It provides end-to-end online grocery fulfilment solutions
to some of the world's largest grocery retailers and holds a 50%
share of Ocado Retail Ltd in the UK in a Joint Venture with Marks
& Spencer. Ocado has spent two decades innovating for grocery
online, investing in a wide technology estate that includes
robotics, AI & machine learning, simulation, forecasting, and
edge intelligence.
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SOURCE The Kroger Co.