Robotics firm Tharsus has announced a new partnership with Ocado which will see the two firms work together until 2024, in a deal which will also result in a multi-million pound investment at the firm’s Northumberland factory, while also creating a raft of new jobs.

Blyth-based Tharsus has worked with the online grocer since 2013, designing and making robots which the online firm uses to pick and pack groceries for delivery across its network of fulfilment centres.

The contract will create and safeguard a total of 100 jobs, both in the North East and more widely in the UK. Tharsus’ sister company Universal Wolf is also recruiting 23 new roles immediately, partly as a result of the Ocado contract.

Founded in 1964, Tharsus has an enviable delivering progressive, robust and innovative technology solutions to companies such as DHL, Automata and Small Robot Co. It employs almost 280 people across three sites in Blyth.

The grocery sector is adapting to the disruption of the Covid-19 outbreak, which has seen supermarket companies around the world ramp up home delivery activities.

Tharsus will play a pivotal part in helping Ocado Group respond to rapidly growing market demand for its automated, robotic fulfilment platform, with Tharsus continuing to manufacture the robots that make up the system, as well as providing support and supply chain services and some development support to Ocado.

Tharsus’ Chief Executive Brian palmer said: “The model pioneered by Ocado will increasingly define the grocery experience in the ‘next normal,’ as shoppers opt for home delivery services that limit health risks. Tharsus’ robotics has been central to keeping Ocado at the cutting edge of such trends, facilitating its disruption of the global grocery market and ascension to the pinnacle of the UK technology sector.

Mark Fryer, engineering and supply chain director at Ocado Group, said: Tharsus has been a strong and constant partner in our journey to become the world’s leading e-commerce platform for grocery. We are delighted that they will remain part of this journey in the future and we are glad that our work together will bring investment and jobs to the region as they share in the growth of Ocado Group’s business globally.