Sereact, Zalando, CEVA put robots on returns in Greven, Świebodzin

The launch sits at the end of a longer relationship. In July, Zalando joined Sereact's Series B round as a strategic investor, and the two companies have been working together to scale intelligent automation across their shared European logistics footprint. The live operations in Greven and Świebodzin are described as the first operational milestone of that collaboration, delivered as a Robotics-as-a-Service model. The choice of returns as the starting point reflects how the partners frame the problem: Sereact CEO and co-founder Dr Ralf Gulde calls returns "the hardest manipulation problem in fashion logistics," and notes that a system which only works on articles it has seen before does not work in a returns operation at all. CEVA Logistics SVP Chris Walton points to the extreme operational nature and scale of returns handling, including unpredictable volumes, manual quality checks, seasonality, value decay and a high cost per unit, and says the model classifies items faster and reduces manual touchpoints. Zalando SVP Masood Choudhry frames the collaboration as one where technology and human potential advance together. The companies describe this as the initial phase of a broader initiative to scale returns automation across Europe, so further sites and volumes may follow.