As the demand for online shopping, delivery, and commerce has increased rapidly around the world due to the corona, warehouses are drawing attention as the most necessary asset for companies.
Warehouses accounted for 20% of global commercial real estate investment spending in 2020, according to CBRE Group, a US commercial real estate services and investment company. Real Capital Analytics also predicted a steady rise in warehouse rents, saying that commercial and retail real estate fell 5.2%, while industrial real estate rose to 8.5%.
In Korea, as the Korean version of the New Deal policy includes the smart logistics industry, shifting the paradigm of the logistics industry using cutting-edge technologies is emerging as an essential task for companies in the era of the 4th industrial revolution. In recent years, companies are responding to rapidly changing market demands through smart warehouses, with patent applications related to’smart logistics warehouses’ that automate the entire process from storage and delivery to an annual average increase of 10.7%.
In such a situation where the logistics system has no choice but to go to automation, the choice of automation will be a key factor in determining the success or loss of a company in the future. ‘AutoStore’, a Norwegian robotics company that entered the Korean market a while ago, is a robot technology company founded in 1996 that developed’Cube Storage Automation’ technology and has offices in the US, UK, Germany, France, and Japan. And supplies more than 500 systems to logistics companies and e-commerce companies in 30 countries around the world.
Any company considering logistics automation can immediately see the innovation of Autostore. Unlike a shelving-type automatic warehouse where a crane or shuttle installed in the aisle between each shelf such as a stacker, mini-rod, and shuttle, you cannot find shelves or aisles in an auto store. This is because it is the only cube-type automatic warehouse that stacks dedicated plastic baskets from the bottom of the dedicated grid and moves the rails installed on the top of the baskets to workers.
It also broke the prejudice that logistics automation can only be done by large companies. It can be installed on a piece of land with an area of only 70cm x 48cm (about 1/10 pyeong), and it has realized logistics storage at least 3-4 times the same area compared to the existing shelf type. This is the catch of two rabbits that cost less and deliver faster delivery than having a warehouse in the suburbs of the city. If you want to increase the storage capacity in the future, you can add and integrate the grid while the existing system is running. If you want to increase the speed, you can add a robot and an entry/exit port.
Autostore is a system that is also very suitable for greening business. Unlike a shelf-type automatic warehouse that consumes a lot of power by using a powerful AC motor, it uses a small DC motor and does not require lighting or temperature control, so 10 robots use the power of one vacuum cleaner.
There are endless industrial fields that can introduce the autostore system. Representative companies in each field such as Lotte, Shilla, 3M, HEB, Adidas, AutoNET, Bosch, Caterpillar, Continental, DHL, Festo, Gucci, Longines, IKEA, Johnson & Johnson, Lufthansa, Panasonic, Puma, Shiseido, etc. are distributed. And for inventory management purposes, an auto store is being applied, and any item that fits within 60 cm x 40 cm can be applied to the auto store, and it is the best solution if you have a large number of products and need to store small quantities.
Sven Åge Hjorteland, AutoStore Asia Pacific Sales Director, said, “Globally, e-commerce revenue is expected to grow by over 85% in 2022, with 23% of global trade going online by 2023. “It is done.” “In other words, it is necessary to quickly predict customer demand and build an automation system according to each company’s situation.”
Online JoongAng Ilbo