Kroger opens first $55 million automated warehouse in Butler County Eric Schwartzberg Kroger opened America’s first automated warehouse in Monroe this week. The $55 million, 335,000-square-foot customer fulfillment center features digital and robotic capabilities that allow Kroger to assemble an order of approximately 50 items in six minutes with robotics instead of approximately 30 to 45 minutes with a Kroger employee picking them up from various areas of the store. Located along Ohio 63 in Monroe, the new facility — also known as a “shed” — is the first of 20 planned colossal automated warehouse/distribution facilities to be created as part of a partnership between Kroger and U.K.-based Ocado, one of the world’s largest dedicated online grocery retailers.