Flexport has opened its first fully automated fulfillment center just outside Chicago. The company says more than 350 robots at the facility double the efficiency compared with a traditional warehouse. The center offers four times the storage and helps deliver 99.9% order accuracy. Flexport has not provided a baseline for these comparisons.
Flexport’s warehouse page lists a new automated facility in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, with 250,000 storage bins and 386 robots running a goods-to-person system. The village approved Flexport’s plans for the 336,840-square-foot building in May, with 300 jobs across two shifts and operations expected to begin at the end of summer 2026, BizTimes reported.
Kroger opened the site in 2022 as a robotic grocery fulfillment center built with Ocado. It announced last November that it would shut the center along with two other Ocado sites, expecting the closures to improve e-commerce operating profit by $400 million in 2026.
Flexport planned to remove the building’s commercial chiller, refrigeration system, tote cleaning room and meat packing room, according to village documents. It also planned to reconfigure the existing automation system for general warehouse, shipping, receiving, distribution and light assembly.
Flexport has also expanded fulfillment services into Canada and the UK. Since Jan. 1, it has required a $5,000 monthly minimum in eligible non-DTC fulfillment-related spending, up from $500. Accounts spending less than the minimum are charged the difference.
