Ocado Group announced last week that it plans to cut 1,000 roles from its workforce of around 20,000 employees, as the company scales back after years of heavy investment in technology and automation.
Headquartered in Hatfield, the online grocery specialist suggested that its latest restructuring reflects the completion of a major phase of innovation in robotics and automated systems.
“We have largely completed a very significant phase of investment in our robotics and automation capabilities,” chief executive Tim Steiner said — a reference widely understood to include advances in artificial intelligence.
The announcement has raised questions about whether AI and automation directly contributed to the job cuts.
Former employee John Williams recalls working at Ocado’s original warehouse in Hatfield more than two decades ago, when the company was first experimenting with robotic systems. At the time, online grocery shopping was still a niche concept, and Ocado was charting its own path.
“They had a sophisticated-looking connecting system — like a robotic trolley — that moved around by itself,” Williams said. “It was called the automatic shopper, but it didn’t quite work. It still had to be loaded by people.”
Williams, who worked on the unloading team until 2004, said that in those early days it was far from obvious that robots might eventually take over large parts of warehouse operations. “It wasn’t clear back then that one day they could replace us,” he reflected.
Now, with AI-driven robotics far more advanced and widely deployed across Ocado’s fulfilment centres, the company’s long-term automation strategy appears to be reshaping its workforce in ways that once seemed distant.
