By 96five NetworkFriday 20 Sep 2024NewsReading Time: 2 minutes
The online grocery landscape is changing once again with the opening of a world-class automated customer fulfillment center.
The Coles Truganina Customer Fulfilment Centre (CFC) in Victoria brings together technology and automation to enhance the shopping experience for online customers in the greater Melbourne area.
Located just over 20 kilometres west of Melbourne’s CBD, the Truganina CFC was opened this morning by the Victorian Acting Premier Tim Pallas MP, Coles Group Chairman James Graham and Coles Group CEO Leah Weckert. It’s the first of two CFCs to launch this year as part of a $400 million partnership with global leader in online grocery transformation, Ocado.
Once fully operational, the modern facility will deliver an enhanced shopping experience for online customers – with better availability, fewer substitutions, increased range of products and improvements in the shelf-life of staples like mince and milk.
Coles Chief Executive Officer Leah Weckert said she was excited to see the opening of Coles’ inaugural CFC in Victoria – the first of its kind in the country.
“Today’s opening signals a major step change in our online grocery deliveries that will offer our customers greater choice, better availability, improved freshness and more flexible delivery options.
“We sought the best global technology in the world to reimagine the Coles Online experience here in Australia. This transition from a local, store-based fulfillment model to a central, world-class facility will enable us to better serve the greater Melbourne region, home to more than five million people.”
Coles Launches Its First Customer Fulfilment Centre in Victoria / Supplied by Coles Media
The CFC will use cutting-edge Ocado technology, utilising artificial intelligence, advanced robotics and automation to transform the way online orders are picked, packed and delivered.
The Truganina site has a footprint of more than 87,000 square metres — four times the size of the Melbourne Cricket Ground — and can hold three million units of stock while having the ability to process more than 10,000 customer orders per day when running at full capacity.
The state-of-the-art site features a centralised hub, known as ‘The Hive’, where a fleet of more than 700 bots will fulfill a customer order containing 50 items in just five minutes, while an artificial intelligence ‘air traffic’ control system will oversee the bots as they move around giant 3D grids, transporting containers of grocery items to be packed and delivered by team members.
The Truganina CFC is proudly named Brungilo Curran, meaning Stringybark Gum Tree.
The name and associated artwork at the Truganina CFC were developed through consultation with local Bunurong community and local artist Kobi Sainty.