Half man, half robot in eStore Logistics' new $28m robo-fulfilling warehouse

Half of the staff at eStore Logistics’ new Melbourne warehouse are people.

A worker packs stock onto a shelf carried by an Autonomous Mobile Robots. Picture: Supplied

One of Australia’s fastest growing e-commerce distributors has opened its third robot-run warehouse, investing $28m into one its largest facilities yet in Melbourne’s west.

eStore Logistics’ latest warehouse, a collaboration with industrial property giant Dexus, has created about 155 jobs in its 17,500sq m at Horizon 3023, in Ravenhall, Victoria, but not all staff are human.

Almost half of those running the new centre are Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) which work with staff to help sort and store items.

Managing director and founder Leigh Williams said his newest convoy of 75 robot staff – who join a total of fleet of about 250 – have ramped up the businesses production capacity, allowing the warehouse to fulfil 40,000 orders each day, picking enough stock to fill approximately two Olympic-sized swimming pools

An AMR caries a shelf of items along the ‘no-man zone’ in an eStore Logistics warehouse 25. Picture: Supplied

“It’s actually interesting because there’s a lot of safety benefits which come with these robots,” he said. “They’re not walking around machinery so it reduces the risk of harm.”

“It opens up the scope of the type of people we can hire. An older person may not be fit enough to walk 10km a day pushing a trolley but in our distribution centre we create an environment to hire people who may be able to assist the robots.”

The new fulfilment centre while technologically savvy was significant proof of the shift to online shopping, with orders up as much as 51 per cent over the past year, Mr Williams said.

“Our challenge that we’ve had over the past few years is that we’ve always been full within our distribution centres – there’s a huge demand for warehousing and fulfilment centres in Australia,” he said.

The latest warehouse brings the e-commerce giants warehouse capacity to more than 100,000sq m across Australia.

eStore Logistics founder and managing director Leigh Williams. Picture: Supplied

Part of eStore’s Logistics’ success has been in filling the gap for physical businesses looking to sell online. eStore Logistics has become a hassle-free solution, Mr Leigh said. “It’s the same as outsourcing accounting or legal,” he said.

Utilising a warehouse service meant retailers didn’t have to deal with raising capital for extra security, a warehouse space and other stresses of a new facility, Mr Leigh said.

The new warehouse will supply about ten of eStore’s 80 retail customers, ranging from “mum and dad-style businesses” selling 50 orders a day to those doing tens of thousands per day.