AutoStore - The Power of Automated Warehousing

The Power of Automated Warehousing

B U S I N E S S I N T E RV I E W

The Power of Automated Warehousing JON BREWIN, UK Business Development Manager at AutoStore, sings the praises of his company’s culture of innovation, with a focus on the key future supply chain trends.

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utoStore is an automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) that harnesses the power of warehouse robots for 24/7 order fulfilment within a cubic layout. The technology solutions provider was founded in the late 90s when an electronics distributor needed more warehouse space. The warehouse manager was advised to find a creative solution, and AutoStore was born.

Jon Brewin, UK Business Development Manager at AutoStore, picks up the story; “The solution started life as a basic boxed structure with creative temporary solutions like tape measures on it to create a robot.

It took eight years of meticulous innovating and a pilot site before it became a commercialised product, so the system has been around for 25 years, but as a business, we have really propelled over the last 15 years.”

Unique selling points of AutoStore include the fact it is a pioneer in cube storage technology, the system can be expanded gradually during a live operation, and its lead time from order placement to a site being kitted out with a fancy new grid is as little as four months. Jon says, “The slogan we live by is to ‘stop airhousing and start warehousing’.

It is about removing unnecessary and expensive air from the warehouse and just using the storage space for storing products, in a Rubik’s cube sense, rather than traditional shelving.

Typically, utilising an AutoStore system would save you 75 per cent of your floor space compared to manual shelving.”

Last year, SoftBank in Japan acquired 40 per cent of AutoStore, following that the company listed on the Oslo stock exchange as the most valuable listing in Norway in two decades.

AutoStore recently won a Le Fonti Award for its commitment to innovation in business, sustainability, technological achievements, leadership, and employee engagement. Jon describes the AutoStore approach to innovation as ‘innovation as a culture’. He continues, “There is a philosophy inside the business that everyone gets involved and everyone can play

“Typically, utilising an AutoStore system would save you 75 per cent of your floor space compared to manual shelving” 3

Jon Brewin

a role in how we shape the business, the product, and the culture. We have a system that enables anyone inside the business in any function to submit ideas. There are key performance indicators so the product team can respond in good time to the idea to determine feasibility and move to the next stage. There is also a fail-fast philosophy – we will look through as many ideas as possible to try to make them fail as fast as possible. If they don’t, we know it is something that is a bit more robust and could make a difference, so more likely we can move forward and benefit from it as a business.”

AutoStore has a mantra of being lean, transparent and bold, the bold part being the culture of innovation within the business. But, does Jon and his team face any challenges in convincing customers that automation is the way forward? Jon says, “What we focus on is the fact that we have a simple solution. We look to make small incremental advances in the technology, but we strive to continue to do so constantly and consistently.

When suggesting AutoStore as a solution, the alternative is usually 4

doing nothing at all and maintaining a manual warehouse. We are more often faced with the challenge of outreach and education i.e. describing what we offer and how we can help you. It is sometimes a slow and careful transformation from changing what people have been doing for tens of years to a solution that makes use of advanced technology and clever software. It can be a different mindset altogether!”

The aim is to make the transition from traditional manual systems to automated warehousing as smooth as possible for AutoStore customers.

Jon adds, “With AutoStore, you do not have to learn all of the complexities of advanced technology and how it works. Our aim is to make that interface with the customer or the people using the system as simple as possible. This means it does not have to be a daunting transition in the business in terms of mindset. It is just a case of tweaking what you already know in order to use the technology to your best advantage.”

In terms of the current trends in supply chain, Jon highlights six key areas:

1. Increased demand on delivery speed & accuracy 2. Labour shortages 3. Ecommerce boom 4. Sustainability 5. Urbanisation & increasing real estate costs 6. Onshoring with complexities around goods importing Jon explains, “People are increasingly demanding that the item they are receiving is correct, and it arrives either the same day or the next day. The only

way you can achieve this is through automation, or a very, very slick process when doing it manually. This is a trend we are seeing that is pushing through automation as a solution – people want products, they want them to be correct, and they want them now.

“Labour shortages are the next huge trend. If you cannot get the people in to manage fulfilment for a warehouse, you have no choice but to transform, and potentially automation can be that transformation which would reduce the need for additional labour.”

Ecommerce sales as a share of total retail sales went up 10 per cent during the pandemic and sits at around a third now. Ecommerce fulfilment is a lot more strenuous on manual pick and pack due to the profile of small and frequent orders, so bringing in automation can alleviate some of the pressure and help adapt to the new ecommerce environment.”

Next, sustainability, in which AutoStore has won multiple awards for its sustainable solution. Jon enthuses, “Usually, you would see a huge electricity bill at the end of the month

“With AutoStore, you do not have to learn all of the complexities of advanced technology and how it works. Our aim is to make that interface with the customer or the people using the system as simple as possible” - Jon Brewin when you have an automation solution involving lots of moving parts and complexities. With AutoStore, we have designed the solution in a way to reduce power consumption.

10 of our robots use the same power as a vacuum cleaner, opening up sustainable options such as solar panels on the roof of your fulfilment centre to generate the energy you need at the site. It is huge for us to be able to offer a solution that is sustainable and can play its part in reducing the impact on the environment. When discussing with new customers, usual decision criteria involve aspects around price, productivity and lead times, but we are now seeing more and more that

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sustainability is an important part of their criteria. Being able to wear that badge and say that we are investing in sustainable solutions is a great feeling for us.

“The last big one is urbanisation. We are seeing a shift from having one or two large traditional fulfilment centres across the country towards more localised fulfilment. Many businesses cannot physically reach their customers as quickly as they would like, and be as reactive as they want to be. Localised microfulfilment centres closer to the customer can be more efficient and reduce unnecessary carbon outputs from long haul delivery, whilst being much more reactive. With real estate costs only growing, it also means that you need to be doing more with less space, so density of storage is an important factor to consider in your solutions when considering more local fulfilment. Fortunately, with AutoStore, we can offer that ability to store significantly more stock in existing and new spaces. The trend of localised fulfilment is growing, and in the next few years, I believe it will really start to take over, so businesses need to adapt quickly.”

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Warehouse automation can also play a role in helping businesses overcome the impact of regulatory changes, such as the UK’s post-Brexit trading agreements. Jon continues, “The main challenge is with the speed at which you can import raw materials or products into the UK. There are dramatic changes in the number of queues at ports and businesses waiting to ship in containers. The more stringent post-Brexit processes are adding to the time it takes for both import and export, and this is reducing the ability to react quickly to help realise or even increase your outputs.

Businesses are therefore moving stock into UK sites to be stored, thus enabling reactiveness in your supply chain and production environment. This notion of keeping local stock rather than relying on imports from abroad is referred to as ‘onshoring’.”

As far as the future of warehousing is concerned, Jon believes the UK in general will move away from having central warehouses for B2C distribution, implementing potentially 30 more localised sites across the region. He continues, “Once the process for imports into the UK from abroad is made simpler, you might not see as much change being implemented to cope. For the moment though, this trend will continue as businesses look to separate themselves from their competition by implementing innovative technology that can increase efficiencies and reduce costs.

There is still space for large fulfilment centres, but it all depends on the geography, the type of business, and your business profile. For example, do you have a very tight service promise

“We have designed the solution in a way to reduce power consumption. 10 of our robots use the same power as a vacuum cleaner” in terms of delivery, or a strict policy in terms of accuracy of your stock? Some companies still have a relaxed service promise whilst others have to deliver the right product to the customer as quickly as possible. That is when you cannot afford to fail.”

Finally, How would Jon describe the future of AutoStore? He concludes, “First and foremost, it is about keeping what we are doing lean by not trying to overcomplicate the solution. We will further engineer and innovate and move the product forward, but only where we see value being added to the industry and to our customers. We could even see AutoStore becoming a solution for trends outside of warehousing e.g. shared storage space in apartments, storage in

shopping centres, and rentable storage space. Finding different ways to apply our solution to the market will only help to advance the technology and bring more benefits to customers.

We want to make sure we are reaching as much of the market as possible whilst continuing to serve and develop as a leader in automated storage and order fulfilment.”

AutoStore operates from offices throughout Europe – in the UK and Ireland; Germany, Austria, Switzerland; and Southern Europe – as well as North America and a newly opened office in Singapore covering Asia and Pacific to continue the growth in the region.

For further information on AutoStore, visit www.autostoresystem.com

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www.autostoresystem.com

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