In recent times, the prevalence of the world’s climate emergency has come to a head as the global community has attempted to commit to reducing humanity’s impact on the planet. Just recently in September 2020 global leaders from five continents came together to “clamp down on pollution.” As well as political action, increasing pressure is being placed on businesses to lead by example and place protecting the environment at the center of their everyday operations.

As a result of this pressure, environmental responsibility is rightly high on the agenda of most modern businesses. From reducing packaging waste to using recycled materials to create products, sustainability is no longer an optional extra. Despite this, the logistics and wider supply chain side of trading often fall short. Believe it or not, buildings account for 40% of “total direct and indirect CO2 emissions,” so when you consider the warehouse space often used as part of logistics operations, this is a missed opportunity to consider ways of reducing energy consumption or cutting down on under-used space.

Dematic solutions help our customers to realize their business potential and this includes reaching their sustainability goals. In addition to dramatically increasing warehouse and supply chain efficiency, automation solutions such as AutoStore have large energy-saving capabilities, ensuring our customers can keep sustainability at the core of their supply chain operations.

AutoStore is an ultra-high-density storage and buffering system for goods-to-person piece picking that increases the efficiency of unit picking with maximum flexibility and scalability. It optimises storage density to its maximum capacity, allowing four times the inventory in the same space compared to conventional storage systems and double that of other automated systems.

The beauty of supply chain automation is its ability to slot into your existing supply chain framework, enhancing and adapting existing processes to ensure they’re performing at maximum capacity. Improving sustainability shouldn’t be any different. AutoStore fits seamlessly into an environmentally conscious warehouse, acting as an asset to existing energy-efficient facilities and using available resources to both save and create energy. It’s exactly this sort of versatility that has made AutoStore a double recipient of Supply and Demand Chain Executive’s Green Supply Chain Award for allowing its users to make sustainability a core component of their supply chain strategy.

One of AutoStore’s biggest energy saving attributes is its use of intelligent robots, which save energy in the warehouse by cutting down on the need for heat and lighting. The robots run on regenerative energy, meaning they constantly return energy to their batteries.

As a result, a team of 10 AutoStore robots only uses the same amount of energy as a single household appliance such as a refrigerator or hair dryer. The savings are significant with many customers seeing a 75% reduction in their running costs since installing AutoStore technology.

Every year new construction adds up to 3,729 million metric tons of CO2 per year to the earth’s atmosphere. The space efficiency of AutoStore minimises the need for new warehousing space and may save the inconvenience of moving locations. Its intelligent use of warehouse space is yet another way AutoStore technology enhances existing facilities, making them more sustainable in the process.

The battle to protect our planet is one that all business leaders should be engaged in and the capacity of supply chain technology to contribute shouldn’t be understated. Energy-efficient technology has been proven to have wide-reaching effects, including improving health and wellbeing, reducing local air pollution, and creating jobs. Solutions such as AutoStore are a great way to make a big environmental impact whilst making small changes to your existing facilities. As the clock is ticking to save the planet, no stone should be left unturned in efforts to become more sustainable.