CEVA Logistics today said it has deployed an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered, automated returns handling system at sites in Germany and Poland, handling inventory for Zalando, the German e-commerce retailer of fashion and footwear products.
The platform uses dual-arm robotic systems to autonomously grasp, identify, and sort fashion returns without requiring per-item training or fixed SKU profiles. It operates by using the “Cortex” physical AI platform from Stuttgart, Germany-based robotics vendor Sereact.
It has now entered live operations at facilities in Greven, Germany, and Świebodzin, Poland, marking the initial phase of a broader initiative to scale returns automation across Europe. According to the partners, the deployment marks the first operational milestone in scaling returns automation across Europe, backed by Zalando joining Sereact’s $116 million “Series B” financing round as a strategic investor in July.
Delivered via a Robotics-as-a-Service (RaaS) model, the goal of the systems is to take on repetitive tasks to lower physical strain, enabling warehouse teams to transition toward station supervision, exception management, and quality control. That is an exceptionally difficult task for returns management in fashion e-commerce logistics, since returned items often arrive poorly packed and disheveled, and the uniqueness of the state of the returned items defies conventional robotic pre-programming.
“One of the toughest challenges is returns handling, due to its extreme operational nature and scale, unpredictable volumes, manual quality checks, seasonality, value decay, and a disproportionately high cost per unit,” Chris Walton, SVP Contract Logistics, CEVA Logistics, said in a release. “Our Robotics-as-a-Service model classifies items faster, reduces manual touchpoints, and delivers consistent, predictable quality on a large scale. For our customers, this transforms returns from a cost driver into a controlled, high-performance service.”
