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3D view: Two lifts supply an AutoStore system installed on a steel platform. This saves space for a ramp. © Element Logic

Logistics space is becoming scarce. Local authorities are designating fewer and fewer new construction sites for logistics and industrial buildings - especially as these usually require several thousand square meters of space. Developers, investors and users are therefore required to consider solutions that require less space, both for new developments and when fitting out existing properties. In terms of building structure and plant technology, options for multi-storey extensions are therefore increasingly coming to the fore. In the field of automated storage and picking systems, AutoStore technology is already available as a tried and tested solution.

System height up to eight meters

Depending on the container height, up to 24 containers can be stacked on top of each other. The system height of the AutoStore units is 8 meters, taking into account a ceiling sprinkler system. The compact overall system, mounted on the hall floor with integrated work stations, the so-called ports, offers a 60 to 70 percent improvement in space utilization compared to conventional small parts storage solutions. The system layout can be adapted precisely to any structural conditions. Multi-storey systems can also be implemented without any problems, allowing the compact storage and picking system to make full use of hall heights of more than 8 meters.

"The vast majority of logistics halls are a maximum of 12 meters high and are therefore ideal for AutoStore systems," explains Joachim Kieninger, Director Strategic Business Development at Element Logic Germany, the world's first official AutoStore integrator. "In principle, AutoStore systems can be integrated into any logistics hall. AutoStore systems can also be installed above the incoming and outgoing goods area, which is usually only 3 to 4 meters high, to save space."

There are several options for this. For example, the lightweight aluminum grid of the system can be installed on a steel construction platform or on an upper floor. Depending on the container height, the floor load to be taken into account is only between 1.8 and 2.8 tons per square metre. The area under a platform construction can then be used, for example, as a storage area for pallets and large parts or as a processing and staging area.

In 2018, for example, Element Logic built the world's largest AutoStore system mounted on a platform, with more than 156,000 container storage locations, on a 5.5-metre-high steel construction platform at the logistics center of electronics distributor TTI Inc. in Maisach-Gernlinden near Munich. This more than tripled the usable storage volume of the retail company. Workstations for incoming goods processing were created under the platform. The AutoStore system installed on the steel construction platform was almost doubled to a total area of 5,000 square meters when it was extended in 2021. A total of 48 picking workstations are operated from the system. Storage takes place at warehouse floor level using swing ports.

Cross-floor solutions

AutoStore technology also enables multi-storey solutions with several AutoStore systems on top of each other, which are connected either by means of standard AutoStore lifts or conveyor technology. Transfer cells, which are integrated into the AutoStore system, serve as an interface to the conveyor technology, as the AutoStore robots place or pick up the system containers directly on them. This opens up a wide range of options for onward transportation, for example to connected vertical conveyors for changing bullets, to AMR stations or to the fully automated robot picking solution eOperator. In this way, AutoStore can be used to set up and consistently separate storage and retrieval processes and the corresponding material flows at different levels. For example, in future-oriented multi-level properties.

Such building models are becoming increasingly important in view of the reduced space requirements. A distinction must be made between simple multi-storey properties and genuine multi-level properties. In the case of simple multi-storey properties, for example, delivery takes place on the first floor, while storage and dispatch production take place on another floor level. In the case of genuine multi-level properties, the individual levels can be accessed from outside via a ramp using industrial trucks and transport vehicles. In both cases, AutoStore systems with cross-floor gantry lifts generate far-reaching advantages for the design of material flows.

Space saved for ramps

For example, the ports of a multi-storey facility at TDK Electronics' logistics center in Heidenheim are installed on two levels - storage takes place on level zero, while picking and dispatch preparation takes place on the floor level

In the case of genuine multi-level properties, this allows construction costs to be saved and storage capacities to be increased. Instead of using part of the building site for a ramp to serve higher floors from the outside, which also requires increased structural engineering, more usable space can be planned or less floor space can be acquired and built on with an AutoStore system and multi-storey gantry lifts.

Element Logic has also successfully implemented similar projects with space-saving multi-storey systems for the Swedish logistics service provider Speed Logistics, the Swiss wholesale company Scheitlin-Papier in its logistics center in Niederuzwil, Canton St. Gallen, as well as in the Norwegian logistics center of Solar Danmark A/S, one of Europe's leading trading companies for electrical components.

15,000 container spaces on 400 square meters

At Scheitlin-Papier, the AutoStore facility is located on an upper floor and offers around 15,000 container storage locations on a floor area of just 400 square meters. The ports for order picking are located on a building level below the AutoStore warehouse. The packing areas and dispatch preparation are also located there, so that the material flow is efficiently integrated into the overall process without internal detours. Another special feature of the system is its installation between two building walls. This meant that two side panels could be saved.

At Solar, the AutoStore system is also equipped with an eOperator, the robot-based picking solution from Element Logic. Supported by machine learning technology, the eOperator's robotic arm can see a new product and pick it up without the need for pre-programming for that specific item. It picks the items from the AutoStore carousel port directly into the shipping parcels. "eOperator was developed to interact with AutoStore systems from Element Logic in order to automate other processes in the AutoStore environment," explains Kieninger. "The optimization of space and room utilization as well as the automation of other AutoStore-related processes will become increasingly important in the future."