Exotec, a French warehouse robotics firm, is doubling down on its Atlanta expansion efforts.
The company, which established its North American headquarters in Atlanta in 2022, is unveiling a new robotic system and planning a significant hiring spree to support its ambitious growth targets.
What’s New On The Product Front
Exotec’s latest product, announced this week, is The Next Generation of Skypod, an automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS). The product is designed to streamline operations inside of a warehouse through its updated robot-to-robot picking options, high throughput Exchanger, and denser storage capability.
These redesigns combined with new software features improve the throughput at a single workstation by 50% while also enhancing storage density up to 30% compared to the previous generation, according to a press release.
Exotec built the product in stealth mode, securing over twenty worldwide projects totalling $400 million before officially launching in February. Early customers include Oxford Industries (which includes Tommy Bahama, Lilly Pulitzer, Southern Tide), Grainger, and E.Leclerc.
A Focus On Atlanta
Exotec’s North American employee base is expected to “reach over 200 people by the end of this year, up from 120 at the end of 2024,” said Exotec’s Managing Director of North America Stanislas Normand.
“Majority of these new hires will be on the hardware and software engineering side, to help support the rapidly growing install base in North America. This aggressive hiring goal aligns with our rapid growth in North America, where we passed the $100M annual order intake bar in 2023 and have been doubling our sales pretty much every year since 2022,” Normand told Hypepotamus.
Exotec is in the midst of building out its second location in Atlanta, which will be located on Peachtree Street.
That new location will host many of Exotec’s employees and will house the Skypod showroom.
“Visitors will be able to get hands-on experience with the Skypod system and step into the immersive space to virtually observe several of Exotec’s 130 sites located all over the globe,” Normand added. Exotec’s current location on Ottley Drive will “continue to support existing customers mainly as a service center for Exotec equipment.”