With land and real estate prices rising across Australia and New Zealand, companies are looking at ways to get more out of their existing warehouse space. Automation solutions provider, Swisslog, shares insights.
Sydney is one of the most expensive, with the latest CBRE report showing that just 4.0 per cent (564ha) of the city’s serviced and industrial zoned land is undeveloped. Perth is another city showing significant growth, with the latest Real Estate Institute of Western Australia (REIWA) figures showing a 15.1 per cent year-on-year increase in the median sale price per square metre of industrial land by the end of December 2024.
One effective way to reduce the overall footprint of a warehouse and optimise space utilisation is to take advantage of advances in high-density automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS), such as Swisslog’s PowerStore and AutoStore.
“With PowerStore, you can typically store up to 60 per cent more pallets in the same space, and it has been designed for high throughput warehouses,” says Swisslog Managing Director, Australia and New Zealand, Dan Ulmamei.
“PowerStore is particularly effective for warehouses that have fewer unique products and high throughput requirements, such as those in manufacturing, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), and food and beverage industries,” he says.
“AutoStore, for which Swisslog is a top integrator globally, with more than 400 projects completed worldwide, is an even more compact solution that is better suited to warehouses with a high number of unique products that are small in size, such as those in retail, apparel, and industrial spare parts.”
Over time, the AutoStore system naturally learns which products have a higher rotation, storing them on the top layer to enable faster picking times.
“With both solutions, by storing more goods in the same floor space, there are not only cost savings on land or rent, but also on electricity, maintenance, and other expenses associated with larger facilities,” adds Ulmamei.
Intelligent software
Swisslog’s SynQ software, which can be used with both PowerStore and AutoStore solutions, can perform the role of a Warehouse Management System (WMS), Warehouse Execution System (WES) and Warehouse Control System (WCS).
SynQ is a single platform that uses proven industry-specific processes that optimise warehouse automation processes, backed by more than 100 years of experience, with more than 500 software experts worldwide.
“SynQ’s ability to provide real-time monitoring and visualisation gives useful data that can help shape smart strategic decisions, and optimise warehouse productivity, efficiency, and throughput, while eliminating bottlenecks and enabling a swift adaptation to changing needs,” says Ulmamei.
“Unique to SynQ is an ability to ‘click and solve’ directly from the 3D visualisation. For example, an operator can access any pallet within the automated warehouse, and can make changes to that pallet directly – such as sending it to the reject station to be checked if something doesn’t look right,” he adds.
SynQ is part of Swisslog’s comprehensive range of warehouse automation and software solutions, which it has been supplying to the Australian and New Zealand market for 30 years. Swisslog’s proven pedigree in whole-of-life warehouse automation ideally positions the organisation to tailor its solutions to meet needs of companies in a diverse range of industries.
