How an Italian retail brand deployed mobile-robot warehouse sortation in 6 weeks

When an Italian retail brand set out to automate sortation inside an existing facility, they wanted a lean, automation-first operation rather than a large manual setup. The building was demanding: the system had to fit beneath a mezzanine and work around a layout dense with structural pillars, all within limited floor space. Unbox built the solution around the customer's needs, leading with a design-first approach that adapted as requirements evolved through the project.

Working with a local integration partner, Unbox deployed 13 mobile robots for single-pass sortation, handling up to 1,000 parcels per hour across 272 destinations in a compact layout engineered around the mezzanine and pillars. The project went from decision to live in roughly three months, with about six weeks on the ground. An iterative, adaptive design approach let the team absorb evolving requirements across parallel workstreams and keep the build on schedule, while fewer touchpoints mean each parcel reaches its destination in fewer steps, for a faster, simpler, and more reliable flow.