Kenco Triples Innovation Lab for Warehouse Automation Testing

Kenco, a major third-party logistics provider operating 140 North American locations, has opened a significantly expanded Innovation Lab in Chattanooga, tripling its previous testing footprint from 10,000 to 30,000 square feet. This expansion reflects the growing maturity and complexity of warehouse automation technologies that the industry is adopting at scale. The facility serves as a vendor-neutral testing ground where equipment manufacturers can validate products in real-world warehouse conditions and customers can evaluate technologies without capital commitment, while Kenco collects operational data to inform its own automation strategy. For supply chain professionals, this development signals that warehouse automation has transitioned from experimental to essential infrastructure investment.

The expansion suggests that automation vendors, 3PLs, and customers increasingly need sophisticated testing environments to validate complex, multi-system deployments before live implementation. The vendor-neutral model—where Kenco can provide honest evaluation without defending proprietary technology—addresses a critical gap in the market: manufacturers lack credibility when testing their own equipment, and customers hesitate to pilot unproven systems. By providing this neutral ground, Kenco positions itself as a technology hub while de-risking automation adoption for its customer base. The labor-focused messaging from Kenco's leadership is particularly noteworthy.

Rather than positioning automation as workforce reduction, the company explicitly frames it as "enablement"—reducing walking distances, eliminating repetitive tasks, and improving safety. This framing matters operationally because it acknowledges the human-in-the-loop reality of modern warehouses and suggests that successful automation rollouts will require change management, retraining, and associate buy-in, not just technical implementation.