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Robot Workers Can't Go on Strike But They Can Go Up in Flames
- Ocado warehouse fire highlights risks of automated retail
- U.K. online grocer forges ahead with technology partnerships
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The Andover fire brigade was alerted at 2.34 a.m. About 2 miles across town, a fire had broken out in the early hours of Feb. 5 at a state-of-the-art Ocado Group Plc warehouse. Within minutes, firefighters were tackling a blaze that eventually reduced the five-floor facility in southern England to a tangle of smoking metal.
Later that day, Ocado executives presented quarterly earnings in a conference room in London. Chief Executive Officer Tim Steiner touted the virtues of the company’s robotic warehouses, laying out plans for Andover. He didn’t mention the fire, which raged on for three more days.