PepsiCo pilots micro-fulfilment centre outside of Chicago

PepsiCo has opened a fully automated micro-fulfilment centre in Joliet, Illinois, in an effort to meet growing ecommerce demand.

The facility will pack, pick and ship to provide a more efficient consumer experience, as well as gain important understanding through working with retail partners to build fully integrated and highly efficient solutions.

PepsiCo claims the automated fulfilment approach improves its Covid safety, reduces the costs of floorspace and speeds up the picking process, enabling a faster delivery and a reduction on overall delivery costs.

As more people are online shopping and requiring home deliveries, fulfilment centres are gaining popular with retailers.

“PepsiCo is one of the first CPG brands to launch an ecommerce micro-fulfilment centre, and the creation of this centre solidifies our commitment to making the necessary investments to continue to stay ahead of the growing online consumer demand,” said Vince Jones, head of ecommerce at PepsiCo.

The beverage giant chose Atlanta-headquartered Dematic to be its automation supplier. According to initial tests, the automation allows PepsiCo to service 7.5 times more units an hour than a traditional ecommerce warehouse operation.

Jones added: “Through collaboration with our retail partners, we are creating an end to end solution that empowers us collectively to enhance our operations with applied insights. The goal is getting PepsiCo products in consumers’ hands and delivering more smiles as quickly as possible.”

The news comes after PepsiCo launched two online direct-to-consumer stores in the US amid the Covid pandemic, allowing consumers to order a range of PepsiCo snack and drink products directly from the company.