Partner Success Story | Unchained Robotics
How we scale Warehouse Automation With Unchained Robotics
How Arvato and Unchained Robotics develop modular, vendor-independent solutions designed for real-world logistics environments.
Logistics operations have long been shaped by challenges such as labor shortages, rising cost pressure, and increasing complexity in global supply chains, all of which automation has helped to address. However, growing demands for speed, higher throughput, and the ability to handle increasingly volatile peak volumes are pushing existing systems to their limits. This makes the integration of warehouse robotics into established automated environments a necessary next step to maintain performance and flexibility.
The challenge in using robotics in logistics is not just implementing robotics, but making it work reliably in daily operations, integrate seamlessly into existing systems, and scale across operations. Scaling robotics effectively across sites and bringing solutions into operational use faster requires more than individual technologies. It requires the right partnerships at the right time, as well as the ability to orchestrate different technologies and processes seamlessly.
With our investment in Unchained Robotics, we are stepping into a new phase of our partnership and are accelerating the development and deployment of robotics solutions for fulfillment processes. What started as a collaboration between two companies in the same region has evolved into a joint approach focusing on modular, vendor-independent solutions designed for real-world logistics environments.
A Partnership Built Over Time
Our collaboration with Unchained Robotics, a German start-up founded in 2019, did not start overnight. Over several years, both companies explored joint use cases, tested solutions, exchanged ideas and developed a shared understanding of how robotics can create value in operations.
At that stage, one important element was still missing: scalability.
Only as both organizations matured did the conditions come together. Arvato strengthened its ability to scale automation, while Unchained Robotics developed a modular, hardware-agnostic robotics platform designed for fast deployment and seamless integration into existing logistics operations. Its user-friendly operating system significantly reduced implementation complexity and enabled robotics solutions to be adapted and scaled more efficiently across different sites and processes. This created the foundation for our joint next step: a strategic investment.
Why Now: From Pilot Projects to Scalable Warehouse Robotics
Automation and robotics have been a differentiator for some time. Now, the real challenge lies in how quickly and reliably they can be integrated across operations.
With our strategic direction, we are moving beyond isolated pilot projects and towards structured, repeatable rollouts of warehouse robotics solutions across our global network. This requires not only the right technologies, but also the ability to orchestrate different systems and processes seamlessly.
Our collaboration plays a central role in this shift. Together, we develop solutions based on clearly defined operational use cases for robotic process automation, test them under real warehouse conditions, and prepare them for scalable rollouts across sites. Furthermore, we are constantly evaluating operational data and use it to improve the performance of our robots. In addition, the platform continuously captures structured operational data from live warehouse environments, creating a foundation for data-driven optimization and future AI-enabled automation.
This ensures that robotics is not treated as an experiment, but as a practical and consistent part of daily operations that can continuously evolve during operations.
Even though we have known each other for quite some time, this is where the real partnership begins. For us, it is about building a long-term capability by combining operational expertise with the right technology partner, sharing knowledge, and shaping solutions together. That allows us to create lasting value for our clients.
Paul Daume CFO at Arvato
Modular, Flexible, Vendor-Independent
A key element of our joint work is the modular and vendor-independent platform approach of Unchained Robotics. They developed a robotics orchestration platform that connects hardware, software, and operational workflows into a unified system. Powered by its automation operating system (LUNA), robotics systems can be deployed, configured, and adapted directly in live operations without deep programming expertise.
Thus, rather than relying on a single technology provider, we can combine different robotics solutions and select the most suitable technology for each use case. This reduces vendor dependency and enables systems to adapt as operational requirements evolve.
At its core, this approach is about reducing complexity in robotics integration. By standardizing interfaces and enabling a plug-and-play logic, we simplify how different technologies are combined, integrated, and scaled across our network. The result is faster implementation, greater flexibility and a more manageable, future-proof robotics landscape, which is especially important in our dynamic logistics environment.
What makes this partnership special is the combination of ambition and execution. Arvato is not only talking about robotics but is fully committed to bringing it into real operations at scale. By combining a modular platform with Arvato’s operational expertise, we can reduce complexity, validate solutions faster, and bring robotics into practice where it creates real impact.
Mladen Milicevic Co-Founder of Unchained Robotics
Accelerating Time-to-Value for Our Clients Globally
For our clients, this strategic collaboration translates into clear and measurable benefits. Pre-tested solutions enable faster implementation. Proven use cases reduce risk.
One key advantage is flexibility in operations. The Unchained Robotics platform can adapt to very different warehouse requirements – from high-throughput environments processing a package every second to operations with lower volume and more variable workflows. Fast product changeovers and flexible process adjustments allow warehouse teams to respond quickly to changing operational demands without complex reprogramming efforts.
Another measurable benefit is significantly reduced implementation and adaptation time. With Unchained’s MalocherBot and the LUNA operating system, new products and workflows can be configured directly on site in just a few steps, often within only one to two minutes. In traditional robotics environments, comparable changes frequently require external integrators, long waiting periods, and time-consuming reprogramming on site. By reducing this complexity, deployment times can often be cut to less than half of those associated with conventional robotics systems, enabling faster operational readiness and shorter amortization periods.
Standardized approaches make it easier to scale across multiple sites and regions within a short period of time and create the foundation for international rollouts. Building on this, we are deploying robotics solutions in international markets across Europe and the United States, where demand for scalable automation continues to grow. At the same time, the vendor-independent setup ensures maximum flexibility. In simple terms, this means robotics at industrial scale for global rollouts while maintaining the ability to adapt to changing requirements.
What really matters is how quickly we can turn a good idea into something that works in day-to-day operations, and by sharing what we learn across sites and keeping things simple, we make that process much more efficient.
Markus Billmann Senior Expert Process Automation and Future Warehouse Team
Looking Ahead: Warehouse Robotics as a Core Capability for Scalable Logistics
At its core, our strategic partnership with Unchained Robotics is not just about adding more robots. It is about knowledge sharing, scalability, execution speed, and real client benefit.
Our ambition is clear: delivering impact quickly. By working closely together, we accelerate the development and deployment of practical, use-case-driven solutions and create the foundation for fast, reliable implementation across our global network. In this way, robotics in logistics becomes one of our key enablers for speed, scalability, and operational excellence.
