When Growth Outpaces Space: How AutoStore™ Is Redefining Flexible Fulfilment
Takeaways
- Flexible fulfilment is essential for modern supply chains.
- Innovations from AutoStore address diverse industry needs.
- Strategic partnerships and lifecycle services drive long-term value.
Growth in today’s supply chain landscape is a goal and a challenge. As your organisation scales, the increasing complexity of product offerings and the continuous rise in consumer expectations often expose the limits of your legacy systems. The key question for logistics leaders like you is not simply how to automate, but how to create a resilient and adaptable fulfilment ecosystem that’s capable of evolving alongside your business needs without recurring major disruptions or costly rebuilds. Simply, how do you stay flexible?
AutoStore empowered by Dematic isn’t just a storage solution. It’s a flexible foundation for modern fulfilment that scales with your business, adapts to your products, and performs in every environment, from fast fashion to frozen food.
Understanding the space-speed paradox
Warehouses, distribution centres, and production facilities everywhere are navigating the tension between physical space constraints and the relentless demand for faster, more precise fulfilment. Retailers, grocers, and manufacturers each face distinct pressures:
- Retail must adapt to volatile online order spikes.
- Grocery operations require seamless handling across chilled, frozen, and ambient goods.
- Manufacturers juggle case and piece picking with operational complexity and cost.
Traditional fixed automation may only answer parts of these challenges. This is where Flexible Automation and the next evolution of AutoStore comes in.
Foundations of flexible fulfilment
The shift toward flexible automation capable of providing flexible fulfilment is a strategic move that requires a future-ready approach. Solutions must be able to:
- Scale by design: Grow with operational needs — no redesign required.
- Adapt to any environment: Perform across every temperature, product type, and fulfilment model.
- Empower people: Create safer, more ergonomic, energy-efficient operations.
- Leverage technology: Feature software solutions and lifecycle services that allow operations to learn, adapt, and optimise continuously.
- Provide long-term partnership: Align technology with business goals to ensure operational success.
Solutions in action: AutoStore empowered by Dematic
Apparel and general merchandise: turning variety into velocity
When your assortment grows faster than your space, every cubic centimeter matters. New FlexBins technology lets retailers store different bin sizes in a single grid. From small accessories to shoe boxes and other bulky items, no redesign or slowdown is required.
When FlexBins are deployed with CarouselAI (AI-powered robotic picking), retailers can boost picking performance and ensure never to miss an order, even during peak demand.
Results:
- More SKUs, faster picking, and agility that scales with seasons and trends
- Up to +15% density, up to 650 items/hour picked
Grocery and healthcare: cold doesn’t mean compromise
Frozen storage has long been difficult for automation. The Frozen-Only Grid now extends AutoStore reliability where it was once impossible — down to -25°C while delivering safe, energy-efficient automation. Workers spend less time in extreme conditions, product temperature remains consistent, and energy costs drop through compact insulation and smarter design.
Results:
- Reliable, scalable cold-chain performance 24/7
- Up to 40% energy savings, stronger compliance, improved employee well-being
Manufacturing: case and piece-picking united together
Manufacturers need two workflows — one for cases and one for single items — to move together. AutoCase bridges that gap, combining both workflows within a single system. It keeps production supplied and e-commerce orders fulfilled without duplicate infrastructure or added complexity.
Results:
- Streamlined material movement and faster ROI
- Up to 260 cases/hour, lower CapEx, simplified layouts
Across all industries: faster deployment, lower disruption
Every day of downtime is a day of lost output. CubeDeploy shortens commissioning and upgrade times with simplified software architecture, minimizing disruption and keeping performance at its peak.
Results:
- Faster go-lives, simpler scaling, and smoother operations as you grow
- No downtime, continuous operations
Industry impact matrix
| Industry | Core Challenge | Relevant AutoStore Solution | Strategic Benefit | ROI/Scalability Impact |
| Apparel, General Merchandise | SKU variety, limited space | FlexBins, CarouselAI | Store more SKUs in the same footprint, pick more orders faster | Up to +15% density, modular scaling with zero downtime, pick up to 650 items/hour |
| Grocery (Cold Chain) | Temperature zones, high energy use, worker safety | Frozen-Only Grid | Reliable sub-zero automation, consistent throughput | Reduce energy use by up to 40%, 24/7 performance that’s safe |
| Manufacturing | Lack of unified case and piece-picking process, multiple systems | AutoCase | Unified material flow, fewer systems | Up to 260 cases/hour, lower CapEx |
| Healthcare (Cold Chain) | Compliance, temperature-controlled traceability | Frozen-Only Grid, FlexBins | Secure, audited automation across environments | Risk reduction, full audit readiness |
Looking to flexible automation to provide flexible fulfilment isn’t a fleeting trend. It is a strategic imperative for any organisation intent on sustainable growth. Operational resilience requires a foundation that is both stable and capable of evolving. By choosing automation platforms designed for scalability, adaptability, and ongoing optimisation, you can position your operations to respond to today’s challenges and seize tomorrow’s opportunities.
Beyond equipment: the value of partnership
The new AutoStore portfolio is a milestone in flexible automation. Each innovation expands what’s possible for real-world operations: storage that adapts, systems that learn, and fulfilment that never stops.
Dematic is uniquely capable in integrating AutoStore modular storage systems with other flexible automation solutions — autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), pallet shuttle systems, robotics, and more. Dematic Software orchestrates every movement across the operation. And with Dematic Lifecycle Solutions & Services, you are guaranteed an experienced partner that can proactively monitor, modernize, and optimize your systems so they perform at peak performance, day one and every day afterward.