Aeon Promotes Automation at Logistics Centers, Aiming to Automate Most Tasks by Fiscal 2030

NHK News Web reported on October 29, 2026, that Aeon is promoting automation at its logistics centers, aiming to automate most tasks by fiscal 2030. We have not verified the primary source; see the original report for details.

Kyodo News reported that Aeon aims to automate 80% of the work from receiving to shipping ambient-temperature goods at Aeon Kawaguchi Higashi XD. Assessing automation at logistics hubs requires checking not only the number of robots but also which processes are included in the percentage and the results after operations begin.

The central issue in this report is not only the introduction of physical AI but also the scope of the work inside logistics centers that Aeon aims to automate. NHK reported that the company aims to automate “most tasks,” while Kyodo News reported a plan to automate 80% of the work from receiving to shipping ambient-temperature goods at Aeon Kawaguchi Higashi XD by 2030. The wording and scope differ by report, so the figures cannot be treated as the same metric. The operation of about 90 units also does not directly indicate the automation rate for the entire center. This newspaper’s articles published on the same day include Aeon Logistics Hub Reaches 50% Automation Rate, which reported that the automation rate for logistics work had reached 50%, and Nikkei Reports 80% Automation at Aeon’s Next-Generation Logistics Hub, in Partnership With Mujin, which reported 80% automation at a next-generation logistics hub. The information provided does not establish the calculation scope or processes covered by either automation rate. The figures should therefore not be read as evidence of progress from 50% to 80%; they may cover different processes and scopes. The reported examples involve individual tasks from receiving to shipping, including sorting goods by destination and loading them onto carts. One report identifies Aeon Kawaguchi Higashi XD as a model facility, underscoring the need to assess automation by which logistics processes have been replaced, rather than by the number of robots installed. Linking automation across processes could contribute to a target measured across all work at a center, but current reports do not specify the automation rate for each process or which tasks still require human labor. Questions to watch include what work the approximately 90 units perform, what is included in the 80% calculation, results after operations begin and the timeline for expansion to other facilities. In particular, until it is clear whether “most tasks” and “80%” refer to the same plan, or whether the figures cover different scopes—such as the entire facility versus the receiving and shipping of ambient-temperature goods—it will not be possible to compare the scale of deployment or the progress of automation.