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Ocado has announced that it is closing its fulfilment centre in Hatfield putting 2,300 jobs at risk.
The retailer stated that it planned to redeploy as many staff as possible to a new centre in Luton.
The centre in Hatfield, which is run as a joint operation with Marks and Spencer, will shut down when business commences at the Luton site.
The new fulfilment centre in Luton will be a primarily robotic operation which Ocado stated will be more productive and energy efficient.
The retailer stated that its latest generation of automated fulfilment centres were “consistently achieving well over 200 units picked per labour hour”, compared to around 150 for the Hatfield site.
It also stated that it “does not expect a material financial impact” from the closure of Hatfield to its FY23 guidance.
Tim Steiner, CEO of Ocado Group and chairman of Ocado Retail, said: “As the online grocery channel grows, our new, enhanced fulfilment centres and technologies will drive a stepchange in customer experience and efficiency.
“With this capacity coming online, now is the right time for us to halt operations at our oldest facility at Hatfield and consider our future options for the site. Ocado.com customers will continue to enjoy the same outstanding standard of service throughout the region, which will further improve as the benefits of our new technologies are deployed across the network.”
