Korea’s e-commerce giant Coupang to invest in logistics automation

Coupang Inc. is poised to invest in the automation transformation of its logistics system, according to industry insiders. 

Headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, Coupang is the country’s largest online marketplace. 

The company’s fulfillment center in Daegu, scheduled to be in full-swing operations by the latter half of next year, has the optics of a gigantic laboratory. 

When an order shows up on a worker’s personal digital assistant (PDA), an automated guided vehicle (AGV) brings a shelf of items to the worker. The worker will then pick the item indicated by a blue light and place it on the automated packing system. 

It only takes around 10 minutes for an order to be placed and for the packaged item to be loaded onto a delivery vehicle. 

For the Daegu fulfillment center, Coupang deployed robots developed by Seoul-based robotics vision solutions provider CMES.

These robots can recognize boxes of irregular shapes and sizes, thanks to high-resolution cameras and scanners attached to their arms. 

Coupang founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Bom Kim has vowed continued investment in process optimization and automation technology encompassing machine learning (ML) and robotics.

Earlier this month, Coupang’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Gaurav Anand also said Coupang's gross margin has improved thanks to automation and supply chain optimization.

Industry watchers say that the e-commerce juggernaut will continue to inject unprecedented amounts of investment as long as the business model relies on advertising, third-party logistics and fintech. 

Some experts point to logistics robots as the starting point of the hardware revolution. 

The general chair of Seoul National University’s Center for SoFT meta-Human Cho Kyu-jin said, “Just as the internet led the software revolution, robots will lead the hardware revolution going forward.” 

Write to Dong-Hui Park at donghuip@hankyung.com