In Flowery Branch, Georgia, a humanoid robot has a job that would make a disappointing science-fiction film. At a GXO-operated facility serving SPANX, Agility Robotics’ Digit takes containers from mobile robots and places them onto conveyors. There is a container here. It needs to be over there.
- GXO runs the warehouse work behind retailers and manufacturers.
- Its tools range from shared storage to AI software and robots.
- The test is reliable flow at a sensible cost.
GXO announced a commercial agreement with Agility in June 2024, following a late-2023 pilot. The arrangement uses robots as a service, with Agility’s software coordinating the work. By November 2025, Agility reported more than 100,000 tote moves at the facility. That is a cumulative count. Repetition gives the experiment substance. A machine has joined an existing workflow and kept doing a useful thing.
The tote is a good place to begin understanding GXO. Its business lives in the handoffs that shoppers seldom see and retailers cannot afford to botch.
02A company born already busy
GXO became independent from XPO on August 2, 2021. It arrived with established operations and customer relationships. Malcolm Wilson was its initial chief executive; Patrick Kelleher, previously DHL Supply Chain’s North American CEO, took over in August 2025.
The category is contract logistics. A customer entrusts GXO with running some portion of its physical supply chain: receiving inventory, storing it, picking orders, packing parcels, replenishing stores or supporting production. A faster picker offers little comfort if the packing stations are buried.
That puts GXO alongside DHL Supply Chain, CEVA, DSV, GEODIS and other operators competing for outsourced work. Its proposition combines a focus on contract logistics with engineering, automation and experience across customer sites. A retailer can also keep the work in-house. The decision is whether an outside operator can do it better.
03The return journey has a price tag
Consider a returned purchase. Receiving the parcel is merely the beginning. Someone must inspect the item, decide whether it needs repair, repackage it and determine whether it can return to sale. GXO offers those steps, alongside refund management and warranty-claim handling. GXO ServiceTech concentrates on electronics and home-appliance returns. The goal is to recover value before stock becomes an expensive monument to indecision.
Customers need different versions of this machinery. For Nestlé, GXO describes a 638,000-square-foot digital distribution center developed with Swisslog automation. Its robots build mixed-product pallets, with reported picking capacity of 175 layers per hour. For a growing brand, GXO Direct offers shared warehouse space, workforce and technology, with pricing that scales with use. One customer needs a purpose-built operation; another needs room to grow without taking on an entire building.
The commercial stakes became concrete in September 2026, when GXO announced a ten-year relationship to operate Columbia Sportswear’s European distribution center in Cambrai, France. That site supports online orders, store replenishment and wholesale distribution. The same building must answer several kinds of demand.
04The software between the machines
GXO’s more revealing technology launch may be the one without legs. Announced in June 2025, GXO IQ coordinates decisions involving inventory, picking, packing, shipping and staffing. It draws on Google Cloud and Snowflake technology. The premise is straightforward: individual machines become more useful when the operation knows which job should happen next.
In February 2026, management said it expected to scale IQ across more than 50 existing sites during the year. That was a deployment plan. The company also expected nearly 20,000 robots in operation by year-end. Those figures describe software expansion and a broader robotic fleet. The humanoid at SPANX is one particular experiment inside that larger automation effort.
GXO automation executive Adrian Stoch described the approach this way: “Our R&D approach is to partner with developers all over the world”. The operational advantage comes from connecting the right tools to a customer’s actual constraints.
The operational advantage comes from connecting the right tools to a customer’s actual constraints.THE WORKFLOW IS THE PRODUCT
05Revenue is the loud number
GXO reported $13.178 billion in revenue for 2025, up from $11.709 billion in 2024. Its net income was $36 million, down from $138 million. Adjusted EBITDA, a separate non-GAAP measure, was $881 million. Expanding sales and bottom-line profit do not necessarily travel together.
Contracts explain part of the economic machinery. GXO uses fixed-price and cost-plus arrangements. Fixed components generally cover facilities, equipment and technology; variable components reflect volumes and labor. A fixed-price job becomes less attractive when actual costs outrun the assumptions. Cost-plus work reimburses allowable costs with an agreed margin. Buying logistics means buying a negotiated division of responsibility and risk.
Expansion brings another bill. GXO paid £762 million for Wincanton in 2024. British regulators required grocery-contract divestments to address competition concerns. The divestment business was sold to DP World in September 2026. The original deal therefore needed a remedy before the investigation could close. Scale had encountered a limit set by competition policy.
Calculated from $36m / $13,178m
06Start with one awkward handoff
The lesson a reader can borrow is modest and useful. Choose a repeated task with a measurable delay. Establish its cost, error rate and safety requirements. Test an intervention inside the real process. Measure the effect on the next station as well as the station you changed. Digit’s path from pilot to paid deployment makes that sequence tangible.
That approach needs conditions. Predictable work and enough repetition help justify integration. Irregular volumes, changing product shapes or a short contract can weaken the case for specialized equipment. Outsourcing also needs good operating data and clear service expectations. A capable internal team may make retaining control more economical.
The human system matters just as much. GXO’s stated values begin with safety and include inclusion and results. Its October 2026 Action announcement described recruitment and training around a new French distribution center, expected to serve up to 290 stores. Automation still depends on people who understand the operation, maintain it and handle exceptions.
The next time an order arrives uneventfully, think about the tote. Someone decided where it belonged, when it should move and what that should cost. GXO sells the work behind those decisions. The robot is interesting because the assignment is so ordinary.