Starlinks To Launch SAR 100 Million Hybrid Logistics Facility In Riyadh

Starlinks, a leading logistics and supply chain solutions provider in Saudi Arabia, today announced the launch of the most technologically advanced fulfilment centre in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Located in Agility Logistics Park, adding to Starlinks’ 18 fulfilment centres across the KSA, the facility comprises a storage area of 400,000 square feet. It has 254 autonomous robots for picking and sorting, providing storage capacity for over 12 million units. Starlinks aims to process an average of 3.6 million units of orders per month. The solution will provide market-leading flexibility, accuracy and agility by combining world-class technology and industry-leading know-how. The facility will be fully operational by Q2 2023.

With a total investment exceeding SAR 100 million, Starlinks championed an opportunity to address the ever-growing market demand and to stay true to its brand promise of providing the fastest e-commerce fulfilment cycle through an omnichannel fulfilment facility. The project is aligned with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, which aims to maximize the potential of the country’s non-oil sectors and bolster its role as a transit hub at the heart of the Middle East.     

Starlinks has partnered with Geek+ for automation technology, joining their top-tier clientele, which includes Nike, Decathlon, and Walmart. The Fulfilment Centre is run on a hybrid model that employs robotics, manual picking systems, and sortation functions. Adopting a working formula that involves both machines and humans, the company will bring promising employment opportunities to over 500 talented Saudi Nationals.     

Salah Taha, Director of Operations at Starlinks, said, “We are excited to bring cutting-edge technology and automation solutions for fulfilment to the Kingdom, providing customers with fast and efficient fulfilment services in the KSA, thus reshaping fulfilment services in the KSA by providing our partners with guaranteed quality and instant scale to capacity. Our new solution comprises a pallet storage and handling storage system, a manual pick tower, and a robotics solution allowing us to cater to a wide range of customer requirements and operations complemented by micro fulfilment centres distributed strategically across the Kingdom. We are committed to driving further innovation in the region’s logistics and supply chain industry and reducing lead time to e-commerce shoppers.”   

Salah added, “Advanced automation and big data analytics enable us to track better and manage inventory, predict demand, and optimize routes for transportation, thus helping us to increase efficiency, reduce operating cost and provide seamless services to our customers.”

Gary Blythe, Managing Director of Starlinks, added, “Starlinks’ brand promise to innovate and deliver market-leading customer experience is demonstrated in this milestone investment. We proudly represent the Kingdom’s commitment to Vision 2030 with our most exciting innovation of 2023.”

The company provides direct and smooth integration with Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, OpenCart, Amazon, eBay, and a further 60 platforms through direct APIs.

Starlinks is the first in the region to offer a hybrid picking solution that allows humans and machines to co-deliver a world-class efficiency manual picking operation, thereby leading to an unrivalled solution for e-commerce fulfilment.