NITORI Group is Japan's largest home furnishings retailer. Its dedicated logistics subsidiary, Home Logistics, manages inbound container operations at a significant scale. Container unloading at NITORI is complex, as the company handles a wide variety of products with different sizes and weights. Home Logistics needed a reliable automated solution for a more consistent inbound flow.

In June 2025, Home Logistics deployed RockyOne from XYZ Robotics at the Satte Distribution Center. Consistent performance led to expansion at regional hubs in Sendai, Nagoya, and Fukuoka.

"We had been searching for a solution for many years," said Takafumi Ueno, Head of Logistics Operations Reform at Home Logistics. "RockyOne is the first we have found that achieves an excellent balance between quality and cost-effectiveness."

Handling Real Complexity

Home furnishings often arrive in oversized cartons, irregular shapes, and mixed SKUs, stacked with no fixed pattern. They also come in various vehicle types, from standard containers to 10-ton trucks.

RockyOne's 3D perception scans each environment and identifies each carton in real time, adapting its motion and grasping accordingly. At Satte, the robot handles cartons from light items to 22.5 kg, delivering a predictable throughput of over 650 cases per hour.

Safer Work, Steadier Operations

Unloading had previously meant hours of heavy manual work inside sweltering or near-freezing containers. These conditions made staff retention a persistent challenge. RockyOne took over that work entirely. Operators now manage the system remotely via tablet, no longer needing to enter the container.

Masataka Furuida, Head of the Satte Distribution Center, shared that employees have welcomed the change and operations have become more stable. RockyOne continues to evolve at the site, and the team applauds every new upgrade.

Robotic unloading is now running at hubs across Japan, with more sites to follow. The NITORI deployment shows what unloading automation looks like at scale: consistent performance across SKUs, adaptable to different sites, and built for the throughput that high-volume distribution demands.