Automated Racking Solutions can deliver a number of significant benefits; however, the one thing that gets people turned on to the concept is how much additional capacity it can deliver.
Once the potential to increase capacity, often exponentially, is established, the supplementary benefits such as improved throughput, improved safety, reduced operating costs and reduced energy bills, become the financial icing on the Return on Investment cake.
However, the initial driving factor for most customers is increasing capacity.
As a rule of thumb, we generally say our AUTOCUBE automated racking solution can deliver an increase in capacity of circa 50-400%. But as you can imagine, the question of how much additional capacity you can achieve for your warehouse is a bit like the old adage, how long is a piece of string?
The exact amount of additional pallets will depend on many factors, including:
- The storage system currently employed
- The pallet sizes
- The throughput required
- The available cubic space of the warehouse
- The number of SKUs
And even then, there will be additional factors which influence the extra capacity, for example, the aisle widths currently being used and the type of forklift trucks used.
So, for example, with an automated pallet storage solution, you are likely to achieve a greater increase in capacity by moving from a warehouse with static pallet racking to one with push-back or drive-in racking.
You would be able to increase capacity more in a warehouse with static pallet racking and 4-metre aisle widths than in one with narrow-aisle racking.
If the type of forklift truck combined with the weight of the pallets was preventing you from using the full height in the warehouse, automated racking could provide you with a solution to increase the number of pallets high you are storing.
However, it would be foolish and misguided to focus solely on the storage capacity of the warehouse.
If you expect to be retrieving 100 pallets per hour from the warehouse and loading them onto the wagons, your automated system must be able to meet this demand. This key performance specification will probably require additional lifts, smart carriers and travel lanes which will inevitably impact capacity.
And so, all other things being equal, a warehouse solution with a throughput of 30 pallets per hour will be able to accommodate more capacity than a warehouse with a throughout of 100 pallets per hour.
If you would like to find out how much additional capacity you could gain from investing in an Autocube Automated Pallet Storage solution, contact us now.
Or if you are now wondering “How Much Does an Automated Pallet Storage Solution Cost?” – head over to our blog, which discusses this in more detail,
Check out Our Introduction to Automated Racking Video
Example Case Studies Projects
Thistle System enabled one of the UK’s leading drinks companies to achieve a 242% increase in capacity by moving from block-stacking pallets to a semi-automated shuttle solution. Click here to read the full case study
We showed one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies how they could store the same number of pallets in just 29% of the available warehouse space. Our Automated Racking Solution gave them the option of more than trebling their capacity, creating additional production space or consolidating other storage facilities.
We demonstrated how a leading player in the food and beverage industry could transform their warehouse using our AUTOCUBE automated racking system to achieve a 58% increase in capacity. Also, the solution delivered significant improvements in efficiency and, most importantly, created a safe, forklift and operator-free ultra-high-density storage area.
If you are looking to increase your capacity or simply want to find out more about Automated Racking Solutions, contact us now on 01236 453888 or use our online enquiry form.
Looking to Automate your Picking Operations?
If Automation is right for you, however your requirements differ from AutoCube’s offerings, explore our options: Brightpick – A Robotic Order Picking System. From in-aisle robotic picking solutions to fully automated goods-to-person systems, we have a solution that can be tailored to suit your requirements.
Automated Racking Systems | Automated Pallet Storage | Automated Racking Increased Capacity
