Brightpick, an AI-powered warehouse automation company, is expanding its partnership with Dr. Max Group, Europe's largest pharmacy chain, by deploying 44 additional Autopicker robots across three distribution centers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, bringing the total to 74 units.
The expansion follows a successful three-year pilot at Prague's Viapharma facility, where 30 robots currently process up to 20,000 items daily, cut manual picking labor by 95 percent, and increased warehouse capacity by 40 percent while virtually eliminating picking errors.
What happened
Brightpick will deploy 44 additional Autopicker autonomous mobile robots across facilities in the Czech Republic and Slovakia for Dr. Max Group, Europe's largest pharmacy chain. The expansion follows successful operations at the Prague distribution center, where 30 robots currently operate; total deployment will reach 74 units by the end of this year.
Why it matters
The Prague warehouse now processes up to 20,000 items daily with a 95 percent reduction in manual picking labor, a 40 percent increase in warehouse capacity, and practical elimination of picking errors. For pharmacy and e-commerce logistics operators, this demonstrates that autonomous systems can handle both high-volume replenishment and dynamic order fulfillment while freeing human workers for higher-skill tasks like quality control.
What to watch
Two new projects—Viapharma Ostrava (22 robots for hospital and pharmacy stock replenishment) and Dr. Max Bratislava (22 robots for e-commerce order processing)—will be completed in the second half of this year. The rollout shows how the system scales without requiring structural warehouse modifications.
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Brightpick's expansion with Dr. Max Group represents a validation of autonomous warehouse systems in a highly regulated, accuracy-critical sector. Pharmacy logistics demands uncompromising accuracy, speed, and strict adherence to standards—constraints that make it a harder test case than many retail or general e-commerce applications. The Prague pilot, which began in late 2023 with nine robots and scaled to 30 over three years, delivered measurable results: the warehouse now processes up to 20,000 items daily, achieved a 95 percent reduction in manual picking labor, and increased capacity by 40 percent while virtually eliminating picking errors. This success directly enabled the decision to roll out 44 additional robots across two new sites by end of year.
The expansion is significant because it shows both the scalability of the technology and the business case for adoption. Rather than replacing workers outright, the deployment freed human staff to move into higher-skill roles like quality control—a pattern that may reduce labor resistance and make the technology easier to implement in other regulated industries. The Prague facility's ability to handle both high-volume replenishment for hospitals and pharmacies and the dynamic, time-sensitive demands of e-commerce order fulfillment suggests the Autopicker's versatility extends beyond a single use case, which could broaden its addressable market.
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