ROBOTS are boosting sales and creating jobs at a firm near Banbury.

Dematic, which creates warehouse logistics technology for firms including Sainsbury’s and Tesco, has moved to a new head office on Banbury Business Park in Adderbury.

It is also recruiting 17 staff to join the 150 already there, with jobs up for grabs including a receptionist, accounts clerk, warehouse control systems, design engineers and bid managers.

Much of its success has come from creating robots powered by intelligent software which select items from a warehouse and put them in the right place for despatch.

Dematic’s business solutions sales director for Northern Europe, Simon Cooper said: “Articulated robots have been a common sight in automotive assembly plants for years.

“But the use of robotics for ecommerce order fulfilment is something new and is fast becoming a major focus of attention.”

He added: “Many retailers are aiming for 15 minutes from click-to-ship – an ambitious target that can only be achieved through the use of robots. “

Dematic’s new building is almost double the size of its old Banbury site.

It includes an academy for training engineers, customers and employees, an R&D centre and showroom to demonstrate the technology.

US-owned Dematic employs 6,000 people and has centres in Mexico, Australia, Germany, Italy and China.

As well as grocery, its customers are in the manufacturing, clothing, parcel and pharma markets.

The popularity of online shopping has fuelled demand for Dematic’s robotics and warehouse systems.

The latest Retail Sales Index compiled by the Office for National Statistics showed Brits spent £1bn a week online shopping in April, up by 19 per cent compared to the same time last year.

Online accounts for a sixth of all retail sales and is forecast to keep growing.

Mr Cooper said: “This growing interest in warehouse robotics is being fuelled, in the main, by the consumer’s continued preference to shop online, with the rising expectation for next-day delivery.”

And with Brexit looming, he warned it may become harder to find enough people to work in warehouses, if labour from mainland Europe dries up.

Dematic’s robots are able to automatically build systems to match the layout of a retail store and identify and pick a single item, such as a bottle of shampoo.

Some robotic systems can pick 1,200 items an hour.

Mr Cooper added: “Robots are no longer science fiction, they are fast becoming a very real part of the contemporary warehouse.”