이 기사는 2022년 05월 02일 08:04 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

South Korea’s Coupang has established a new entity to accelerate its plan to automate its fulfillment centers. The Korean ecommerce company aims to build automated logistics centers using robots and artificial intelligence (AI) like American ecommerce giant Amazon.

Coupang established CFC Preparatory Corporation on January 6 with a capital of 40 billion won ($32 million), according to industry sources. The number of issued shares was 50 million with a face value of 5,000 won per share.

The new entity is led by Shin Won, vice president of CPLB, Coupang's subsidiary in charge of selling private brand health food, dietary supplements and skincare products.

CPLB has grown at a rapid speed, surpassing 1 trillion won in revenue in 2021 less than two years after its launch. The company has believed Shin is eligible for leading the large-size business with capital stock of 40 billion won.

Lee Seok-keun, former deputy governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, and attorney Chae Seung-hoon have joined CFC Preparatory Corp’s board as outside directors.

Coupang has included business consulting, investment and real estate leasing as business purpose of CFC Preparatory Corp. The new company’s ultimate goal is to establish Coupang fulfillment center (CFC), Coupang’s own version of automated fulfillment center. Considering CFC Preparatory Corp is mostly a preparation stage to create CFC Corp, the company is expected to focus on consulting on establishment of a corporation, investment strategy and securing business sites by hiring business management and legal experts as outside directors.

The CFC business is closely related to Coupang’s long-term profitability. Coupang is suffering huge losses for years due to fierce competition in the online delivery market. The company has concluded that it needs to automate its fulfillment centers to improve cost efficiency like Amazon’s highly automated robotic fulfillment centers.

Coupang still relies on its deliverymen or Coupang Man for its dawn delivery services. Amazon has been building increasingly automated warehouses using its Robin robotic arm. Robin picks packages from a conveyor belt with its suction gripper, scans them and then places them on a drive robot that routes it to the correct loading dock.

To achieve warehouse automation, Coupang aims to take on new adventures even by making large-scale investments in addition to capital stock of 40 billion won. (Reporting by Nu-ri Moon)