Automated warehouse: from concept to handover
Project experience · Project lead
- Challenge
- A logistics provider was planning a new central warehouse to store and distribute its customers' goods nationwide. The investment had to earn its place: the warehouse needed to cost less to build and run, and to be more accurate, than a conventional design.
- Approach
- Led the project from its first concept: where the warehouse should be, and what kind of warehouse would make the investment worthwhile. Automation was designed in from the start to save floor space, handling equipment and labour, to raise efficiency and to reduce errors. Goods can be stored up to 23 m high instead of 12 m, and with no reach trucks there are no drivers to hire.
- Delivered
- A financial feasibility study tested the case in numbers against a conventional warehouse and showed payback within 3 years. Then managed the project through contractor bidding, equipment procurement and construction to completion, and handed over a warehouse ready for operation. The automated storage system works alongside other automation, such as AGVs, to keep the warehouse efficient.