Article 4 Nov 2024

Facility Design and the Automation Market

Overview

Investment in automation is set to double by 2030. Facility variable costs account for 15% to 25% of total costs. Key considerations for automation-compatible warehouses include:

· Floor flatness and joins
· Point loads
· Power requirements

Automation solutions and therefore their facility requirements vary significantly based on customer needs. Solutions are typically either designed alongside the facility as a purpose-built system, or considered after the build as an upgrade, or a requirement for a new tenant.

Purpose Built

While any type of warehouse automation can be included in the design and planning of a facility, it is typically the higher capital and higher performance systems that are included. This is because these systems are most efficient when designed alongside the building. The key reasons for this are as follows.

Building Dimensions: Larger automated systems have a specific length that is best for the customers needs, having a system 10m shorter than a length of the building leads to wasted space. These systems are expensive, and it is not cost effective to build out systems to suit the building when it is not necessary.
Building Columns: Column locations and creating free spanning areas is a key aspect to aligning the automation design with the facility design. While automated systems can typically deal with poorly placed columns, it creates gaps or dead locations which leads to lower storage density
Floor Requirements: Higher performance systems such as shuttles have specific requirements around joints and flatness, sometimes requiring very large individual sections. This is because the tolerances of the fast-moving shuttles at height are affected by movement at the base. Point loads must also be considered.
Power Requirements: Higher performance systems can have large power requirements that should be aligned with the overall facility. These requirements vary greatly depending on the solution. An overall project plan that allows for this to be calculated and approved within the facility design timeline is key.

No two purpose-built systems are alike, as these are customised to the end users specific order profile and product requirements. It is important to engage the automation vendor early to align technical requirements.

Retrofitted Automation

Customers who do not purpose build tend to go for more modular solutions for their warehouses. Some systems that fit easily into this category are autonomous mobile robots that have a flexible grid or an Autostore type solution which is also modular.

Some examples are as follows:

Autonomous Case-handling Robot (ACR): Plastic totes are stored in racking at varying heights (~14 totes high) and mobile robots store and retrieve them. Floor flatness and joins are key to ensuring this type of automation work.
Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR): Entire shelves are transported by mobile robots to picking operators. Floor flatness and joins are also important for these, however due to the low height (up to ~2.2m) the requirements are generally lower.
Flexible Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS): Autostore or similar solutions utilise the height of a warehouse well and are modular in construction meaning the shape can be modified to suit most buildings without impacting throughput. These systems stack plastic totes on top of one another and have robots at the top shuffling and retrieving them for pickers.

The automation vendor should be engaged as early as possible to define the requirements of the system. To illustrate the variance, a worked example is as follows:

Autostore systems have grids which store items and robots which retrieve them. If a customer needs high storage and low throughput, their system will require less power than a system with higher throughput and the same size (since they would have more robots/chargers etc.).

From this the conclusion is that even within a typical solution power varies depending on customer needs. Some typical requirements for such a system are below:

Floor loading would vary depending on product stored (~3000kg/m2 as a rough guide). Loads are dynamic as there is movement attached to the racking.
Flatness within a 1.2m section it should be 3.5mm. Levelness within a 1.2m section should be 4.0mm and overall, the deviance in a 3x3m grid should not exceed +- 20mm.
As above, power requirements vary, however a system such as this would typically use single-phase power and draw ~1500W 6A per charger. If the system has any attached conveyor system this will likely be 400V 3 phase and its energy requirement will vary depending on the size.

Spec Builds

The quantity and variation of different automated solutions have proliferated in recent years and directly specifying the facility requirements for where technology may head in the next 5-10 years is challenging.

While rent is high, systems that use the height will continue to be more favourably looked on and therefore floor loading requirements for systems such as an Autostore will continue to be popular. Floor flatness is another key aspect that allows for the precise movements of all automated systems and should always be considered.

To explore how our team can help optimise your facility design for automation compatibility, head over to our Intralogistics service page.