A joke no more

By Simon Duddy, Editor, Logistics Matters

AUTOSTORE CEO Mats Hovland Vikse mentioned this in passing as the warehouse automation giant released a raft of new products at LogiMAT. With the company possessing a broad range of integrator partners and well over 1,000 unique customers, it is safe to say no one is laughing now.

Mats went on to explain: “These are still early days for cube storage, 80% of warehouses are still manual. When you understand global mega trends such as eCommerce, urbanisation and an ageing workforce you see there is a huge opportunity.”

You can read about Autostore’s new products in detail on Page 40 in our March / April issue. The CarouselAI picking solution caught my eye, an AI-driven picking arm that speeds up the system.

Another really interesting development is the Pio, which is essentially a scaled down version of the Autostore which aims to open up the technology to big companies with small sites, and small companies who nevertheless have significant order requirements. I think even relatively small fulfilment companies may find the Pio compelling.

Mats led the press briefing at LogiMAT, but I was delighted also to sit with Autostore vice president sales EMEA Frode Robberstad for a one to one chat.

“The show has been super busy. The new products are very attractive. This is about creating awareness about what the tech can do. A lot of people dont know what they don’t know. They are getting intrigued and asking the right questions.”

Frode has been with the company since the 1990s, so has seen first hand the astonishing journey of transformation from a computer components supplier to a warehouse tech leader.

logimat autostore

“We came from another world. We had a full warehouse and no cash to buy another warehouse. So, we invented Autostore. Then, we decided to sell it via integrators who knew the warehousing world.”

The approach has worked very well for Autostore and they are not tempted to change it, in part because, when they were a computer components supplier, there were instances when OEMs would seize the relationship with a customer after it has been built to a certain level, which left a bitter taste.

“Also,” says Frode, “the model is super effective, we don’t want to change it. The integrators can do their job and we can focus on technology innovation.”

Autostore clearly sees a great deal of room for expansion, despite the fact that the technology has gained a remarkable number of customers in its relatively short history.

Attention must turn then to potential roadblocks to expansion.

As Autostore requires a flat floor to operate and with brownfield sites a key target market, what can be done to tackle the flooring issue?

After all, many rival robotic suppliers are emphasising that their systems do not require super-flat floors and can be set up quickly.

Frode says: “Flooring is high on our agenda, because we know that more than 70% of our warehouses are in brownfield sites.

“Look at cities in the UK, such as old Debenhams stores, there are good quality places lying empty. Sometimes the floor is not good enough, but that is often the only thing, Autostore power requirements are not heavy, and we can work around pillars.

“For flooring, the key question is what is the least amount of deviation you can live with? It’s about how the grid is mounted, how we adjust our feet and can that be more dynamic.”

Frode also questions if customers really need a warehouse to go live in a few weeks, as opposed to a few months.

“If you can invest a couple of months, we’ll provide a system that will last for decades. We have one of the shortest lead times for hardware in the industry.”

Another part of the Autostore growth strategy is to develop ‘adjacent technology’.

“The core business will always be the cube,” says Frode. “But working on picking, other port solutions, and how to consolidate orders are all interesting and we will continue to add to these.”

The company has made many efforts to improve the performance of the cube over the years and the results of this may be surprising.

“Back in 2019, we invented Blackline, a faster robot, that increased throughput to 650 presentations per bin per hour and opened up a new market. 

“But we also developed new software code after working with Asda on a very dense grid and found that applying the new code to our regular robots actually exceeded the performance of the Blackline bots.

“It shows that software really is the key. For a large DC we are working on, we modelled it with different versions of our platform, from 2021 and now, and saw a 17% uplift in performance.”

To conclude, Autostore sees a huge opportunity for cube storage automation.

“The next generation will change the world, repetitive work is not for them. Repetitive work in the warehouse is a huge opportunity for us.”