[BENTONVILLE, ARKANSAS, September 19] — Today, Ox announces the world’s first human centered automation system. The technology system utilizes the next generation of wearable displays and software intelligence to direct frontline operators to perform their work. Founded in 2019 at the Georgia Institute of Technology by 2020 Forbes 30 under 30 nominee Charu Thomas, Ox has experienced rapid growth and adoption since announcing its $3.5m seed round of financing in March 2021. The human centered automation system, or Operator Experience (OX), is currently being adopted by Fortune 500 customers across retail, supply chain, and warehousing. In the past 18 months, Ox’s headcount has grown by 300% to support implementations.
“I’m proud of the team we have built to support our mission. Our executive team has sold and deployed over $4 billion in software and hardware in the past 5 years. We’re excited to continue this trajectory of building a market defining company.” - Charu Thomas, Founder & CEO
The United States Bureau of Labor and Statistics estimates that in the past 12 months supply chain operations have experienced over 50% turnover leading to bottlenecks across multiple industries. Ultimately, the cost of this attrition is passed onto the consumer; rising costs, empty shelves, and the overwhelming increase in volume has exposed the fragility of our global supply chain. Ox exists to support the most valuable, yet underinvested asset across industrial operations: the operator.
“Our team is driven by the impact we can provide across supply chain organizations. Ox exists to be the operational tool and system of record that is the voice of frontline workers. The operator should benefit from the value of automation not be replaced. Together, we can foster the equity and representation that is needed to power our global supply chains." - Charu Thomas, Founder & CEO
The Operator Experience (Ox) is designed to support frontline workers and managers with the infrastructure necessary to make operations digital and flexible with real-time data. Current systems have complex interfaces, high levels of customization, and don’t support frontline connectivity. Ultimately, this complexity is passed down to operators who don’t have the resources required to perform their work proficiently. The human centered automation system has four modules.
Experience: a universal interface for performing work
Wearables: an ecosystem of flexible and modern displays
Intelligence: an artificial intelligence engine for assigning tasks
Visibility: a real-time view of operational performance
The Ox system currently supports $500m in supply chain volume and will 4x by the end of 2022. Today, operators using Ox can be trained in as little as 30 minutes and require significantly less tribal knowledge to be onboarded. The infrastructure can be scaled across operations in as soon as 8-12 weeks and offers a payback period 3x faster than traditional mechanical forms of automation. Ox has proven that by empowering frontline operators with the resources required to succeed in their role, they will be more engaged in their tasks and excited to deliver operational excellence.
About Ox:
Ox is pioneering the world’s first human centered automation system across the supply chain. The Operator Experience directs frontline operators to perform their work through software automation, wearable displays, and artificial intelligence to deliver operational excellence.
