Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems Simplify and Scale Warehouse Operations

By Anne Marie Neatham, Chief Solutions Officer, Ocado Intelligent Automation

Supply chains are growing increasingly complex. More SKUs are going to more destinations, and a smaller labor pool is available to get it done. Supply chain leaders continue to embrace automation and robotics to manage increasing throughput amidst these demands.

According to the 2024 MHI Annual Industry Report, 55% of distribution professionals are increasing their supply chain investments, with 88% planning to spend over $1 million and 42% to spend over $10 million. The report notes that 41% believe robotics and automation provide a competitive advantage, and 83% predict they will adopt those technologies in the next five years.

Now that the business case for automation is crystal clear and automation spending is reaching seven digits, warehouses can move away from piece-by-piece approaches and capitalize on integrated software-powered robotic automation.

One solution is an automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS). Sometimes called AS/RS, ASRS is a computer-controlled array that efficiently stores and retrieves goods and materials from a high-density storage configuration.

ASRS is becoming incredibly sophisticated and can provide enormous benefits. These systems allow companies to do more with the same warehouse space, as they use vertical and aisle spaces to store more merchandise. They also generate precise business intelligence, increase worker and stock safety, ease labor shortages, reduce picking errors, and generally make warehouse and distribution center fulfillment more efficient.

More Density Creates More Warehouse Space

Cubic automated storage and retrieval systems are built on vertical, scalable grids filled with inventory storage bins. Hundreds – even thousands – of robots travel along the top, pulling inventory and delivering it to pick stations.

Cubic ASRS arrays are modular and customizable to any facility size or shape, making them incredibly useful in dense city centers, where real estate is at a premium. The grids extend both horizontally and vertically, leveraging aisle space and vertical space, often a wasted resource given the complexity of accessing inventory stored up high.

This layout helps companies store more products in a fixed area. In a way, it’s like leasing an entirely new warehouse. In some cases, different product lines, such as footwear and apparel, which traditionally required different material handling equipment systems to handle each product line, can now be combined into one grid, using real estate more efficiently and improving throughput per square foot.

An ASRS can easily scale up and down operations by adding robots to accommodate changing demand and product assortments. This flexibility is particularly important when businesses experience rapid growth or seasonal fluctuations, for instance, during e-commerce sales.

Illustration Caption: A cubic automated storage and retrieval system offers high throughput, dense storage, and great scalability for many applications.

Robots, Software, and Cubic Density – The Dream Team

There are several ASRS types, but cubic ASRS is the most advanced, potentially using thousands of mobile warehouse robots across a huge grid. These robots are not autonomous themselves; warehouse execution system (WES) software guides them to the correct stock bins and then – when inventory is picked – to the pick stations. This dream team of cutting-edge robots, software, and high-density storage helps cubic ASRS cost-effectively, accurately and rapidly pick orders.

ASRS arrays develop optimized routes to and from product bins and constantly self-organize, rearranging bins to prioritize order, speed, and item positions relocating faster-moving items so they are more accessible at the top of the grid. Robots provide consistent, accurate picking, do not experience fatigue or distractions, and get high marks for consistency, accuracy, and availability.

While ASRS has been around for decades, modern systems offer a decided advantage: cutting-edge software. First, there is the integration with WES, which provides numerous benefits, such as security, inventory control, SKU flexibility (adding and subtracting as needed), and real time business intelligence. With their sophisticated computer vision, the bots provide robust data, which the WES collects, analyzes, and reports.

The second software piece is the machine learning algorithms. They can predict demand curves, help manage seasonal spikes, and support robot workforce planning, to name a few applications. It’s complexity made simple.

Robotic Cube Storage Enhances Supply Chain Operations Across Sectors

Cubic ASRS is being adopted across various industries. Pharmaceuticals, automotive, manufacturing and other sectors are increasingly leveraging robotic cube storage to enhance their supply chain operations.

• Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals – Healthcare and pharmaceutical supply chains demand stringent capabilities for product integrity, temperature control, and timely delivery – all while navigating ever-changing regulation and customer demand. Cubic ASRS offers an ideal solution to store and process pharmaceutical orders, providing traceability and secure storage to maintain efficacy and meet strict governmental standards.
• Third Party Logistics (3PL) – With their compact and highly scalable design, cubic ASRS systems efficiently manage diverse inventory types, helping 3PLs optimize operations and precisely meet client demands. Their scalability allows cubic ASRS to adapt to both planned and unexpected changes in operational demand and expand as customers and needs evolve.
• Fashion, Apparel and Consumer Goods – The increased density of cube-based storage allows business-to-consumer and direct-to-consumer fashion and consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies to stock a greater range of each season’s must-haves. Inventory is constantly optimized to rapidly retrieve the fastest moving items. This optimization occurs naturally in some robotic cube storage solutions, helping CPG brands and distributors meet both seasonal and unexpected demand surges, reduce labor costs and streamline logistics for timely delivery.
• Industrial Parts and Consumables – Managing intricate industrial supply chains, involving numerous suppliers, parts, and components, demands precise inventory control and efficient logistics. Automotive manufacturers can use ASRS to manage a vast array of components and accessories, ensuring timely and accurate assembly or repair.

Prioritizing Productivity, Security, and Safety

ASRS also makes it easier to manage employee fluctuations. New hires no longer need to learn a large, complex warehouse layout in a short time. The ASRS brings inventory to the employee pick station. In addition, the computer and physical interfaces are quite intuitive, reducing the learning curve.

Employees working long shifts inside warehouses contend with both mental and physical fatigue, and it can be difficult to remain engaged with repetitive, monotonous tasks. Safety is a critical concern in any warehouse environment: In 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the rate of injuries and illnesses in warehouses was 5.5 incidents per 100 workers, more than double the national rate of 2.7 across all industries.

Warehouse automation reduces the risk of accidents by minimizing the need for human intervention in potentially hazardous tasks. These systems can handle tasks people often struggle with – heavy lifting and repetitive motions, to name two – significantly lowering the risk of workplace strain and injury.

Fatigue plays another role, as tired workers are likelier to make mistakes. ASRS avoids this pitfall and closely tracks inventory – an important line of defense in loss prevention.

Managing Complex Logistics Workstreams and Applications

Companies with diverse inventories, item sets, or lines of business face distribution complexities. Other factors can make operations even more arduous. For example, import/export rules can force companies to sort out seemingly identical products, with only subtle distinctions, based on their destination countries.

ASRS can answer these challenges. Associates no longer need to make these highly nuanced product distinctions on the fly. Robots can easily read information and sort items accordingly, saving time, effort, and money, as incorrectly batched items are at high-risk for return.

Inventory distortion is another issue in many warehouses. In 2023, IHL Group estimated the global cost at $1.77 trillion, with out-of-stocks accounting for $1.2 trillion and overstocks totaling $562 billion.

ASRS resolves these issues by delivering accurate stock levels, streamlined reordering processes, minimal shrink and purge, and optimal inventory counts even during peak periods.

For Warehouse Operators, the Best of Automation is Yet to Come

Although the industry’s comfort with automation and robotics is increasing, there are still tremendous opportunities for more warehouses to adopt it. Interact Analysis predicts just 26% of warehouses will be automated by 2027.

When it comes to ASRS the best is yet to come. Warehouses can capitalize on the opportunities as the systems increase in density, saving high-value warehouse space and the associated costs of maintaining it, accelerating picking and maximizing throughput, and helping facilities deal with a shrinking labor market. It’s an efficiency tour de force.

About the Author

Anne Marie Neatham is the Chief Solutions Officer at Ocado Intelligent Automation, a recently formed part of Ocado Group created to bring its world-class warehouse automation, which is in use by grocery clients worldwide, into non-grocery verticals.

Anne Marie joined Ocado in 2001 to lead the development of early in-house support applications and has since taken on a variety of technical leadership roles across the organization, as well as opening Ocado’s first offshore development center in Krakow, Poland.

Anne Marie’s passion and leadership have earned her numerous awards and accolades. She was nominated for the U.K. Women in Tech award multiple times from Computer Weekly and was inducted into their hall of fame.

Before joining Ocado, Anne Marie was a software development manager for Staples Inc. in Boston. Born and raised in Ireland, she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from University College Cork.

Learn more about Ocado Intelligent Automation at: https://ocadointelligentautomation.com