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Ocado Group Plc expects “some disruption to operations” after one of its warehouses caught fire on Friday after a robot collision, the online grocer said in a statement.
“Three bots on the grid” that are used to fill orders collided, triggering the blaze, it said on Saturday. The company expects the facility to begin operating again “within the coming week” as the damage is limited to a small section of “less than 1%” of the grid. About 800 staff evacuated and no injuries were reported, the London Fire Brigade said in a separate statement.
The incident at Ocado’s Erith customer fulfillment center will cause it to delay or cancel thousands of orders, according to the Financial Times. It’s the second time in three years one of the company’s automated facilities caught fire, the newspaper said.