AutoStore Expands in the Americas – Entering a New Growth Phase

Recommendation: Deploy autostore in two strategic regional hubs now to shorten retrieval times and boost availability; scale to 4–6 locations within 12 months to support growing demand across the Americas.

Under a complex market, the decision to expand hinges on data, operations, and risk. A hoag-like service model with clear SLAs, steady availability, and a simple workflow keeps teams aligned. The autostore system is designed for retrieving stored products quickly, even as volumes surge.

In pilot deployments already underway, the autostore layout delivered ~30% faster order retrieval and reduced floor footprint by 35–40%. One facility reported throughput climbing to several thousand picks per day, with 98% availability on standard SKUs. This metric throws light on the value of a scalable, stored-in-warehouse solution that supports a diversified products mix. These early results–and more to come–show growth potential across the region.

To accelerate growth, pursue a phased rollout: start with high-velocity items, then expand to niche categories. Map the decision tree to avoid bottlenecks and keep transfers simple, and connect the autostore system to ERP for real-time visibility. Ensure staff receive hands-on training for retrieving routines, and engage a trusted integration partner to supervise software updates and ongoing maintenance.

With disciplined governance, regional experimentation, and a replicable model, the Americas expansion will lead the market. The autostore architecture scales with demand, stores more products, and preserves high accuracy while boosting growth. This strategy emphasizes availability, cross-dock efficiency, and lead time improvements, ensuring local teams have the tools to succeed in the next phase of expansion.

New regional footprint and go-to-market approach in the Americas

Recommendation: Establish five regional fulfillment hubs in the Americas within 12 months. This footprint maximises throughput and shortens last-mile times. Here, the first wave will span Dallas, Chicago, Toronto, São Paulo, and Bogotá, all linked through a common automation layer that supports rapid scale and efficient control.

Within each site, robotic cells handle picking, packing, and palletising, increasing accuracy and reducing touches. The footprint stores inventory in clearly labeled zones and relies on a shared system with a central control platform to improve execution and accelerate replenishment cycles, boosting fulfillment reliability across the network. Firsthand feedback from pilots informs adjustments across sites. Every deployed site interoperates with the central command to maintain alignment along the network spine. Inventory stored in clearly labeled zones supports fast retrieval.

Execution hinges on a three-track go-to-market approach: direct enterprise sales for large accounts, a broad ecosystem of system integrators and logistics partners, and a service package that covers onboarding, training, and ongoing optimization. This approach helps face cross-border constraints, supports development, and builds an extended ecosystem that delivers value along local routes. The efforts behind this plan are coordinated across regions to ensure every conversion event is tracked and optimized.

Initial hub locations and rollout milestones

Open the rialto, calif hub as anchor and form a board-led task force to define routing rules and daily throughput. This action helps businesses plan, leveraging real-time data to set service SLAs and prepare the next phase of growth.

Initial hub locations in the Americas include rialto, calif; the Dallas–Fort Worth area; chicago metro; and monterrey metro. Each site started with automated storage units and a localized staffing plan to support regional output. Rialto specifics: 40,000 sq ft facility, 80 operators, daily throughput about 1,200 orders, safety and training programs in place; started 2025 Q1. Dallas site: 45,000 sq ft, roughly 1,000 orders daily; started 2025 Q2. Chicago site: 50,000 sq ft, about 1,100 orders daily; started 2025 Q3. Monterrey site: 55,000 sq ft, around 900 orders daily; started 2025 Q4.

Milestones in this rollout include the Rialto launch in 2025 Q1, Dallas in 2025 Q2, Chicago in 2025 Q3, and Monterrey in 2025 Q4. By the next year, routing hubs interconnect to support cross-border moves and regional deliveries, with daily throughput rising as the network learns and expands. Disruptions were mitigated by pre-staging components and aligning with local suppliers, while the action stayed focused on safety, reliability, and predictable service for trusted customers.

An operations officer oversees safety reviews, daily briefings, and cross-hub handoffs, while the product team uses routing logic to optimize paths and reduce bottlenecks. This setup supports daily performance metrics and clear accountability, helping partner businesses manage expectations and maintain consistent service levels across markets.

Next years will bring additional markets and tighter routing integrations, with new hubs planned in mexico city and a second U.S. gateway to improve coverage. The plan includes standardized training for staff, updated safety protocols, and expanded uses of real-time data to fine-tune layouts, balance workloads, and maintain a resilient network as disruptions trend down and volumes grow.

Regional network design: DCs, automation levels, and transit times

Prioritize a regional hub in the central United States and deploy 6-8 DCs along key corridors to meet demand across the Americas. This layout reduces cross-border transit times, supports continuous operations, and builds an ecosystem that handles millions of items at speed.

Siting should ensure 24-36 hours moving time within dense U.S. routes and 48-72 hours total for cross-border flows including clearance. Position DCs within roughly 700-1,000 miles of major markets to meet demand quickly, cut transit times, and lower handling issues while maintaining safety and accurate inventory visibility.

Adopt three automation tiers: simple, advanced, and robotic systems. In new markets start with simple conveyors and AutoStore pods, then scale to advanced cells with robotic pickers and smart sorters, and finally deploy a full robotic grid in flagship hubs to reach fast throughput and real-time visibility.

Operational design blends user-focused processes with moving goods and continuous feedback. Robotic density of 4-6 robots per module supports 40-60 picks per minute during peak periods, with accuracy around 99.9%, depending on SKU mix. This works because data from WMS and TMS flows continuously, issues are unveiled quickly, and the team can address them without disruption.

Daniel leads the regional design team and adapts to local rules. The team meets daily, shares learnings, and empowers operators with clear action plans along every corridor. This approach strengthens the safety culture and enhances the ecosystem, creating opportunities for customers and partners to move faster while keeping millions of items moving along the network.

Customer segments and pilot programs in the Americas

Launch three concurrent pilots in the Americas focusing on high-potential segments to validate seamless goods-to-person flow and clear availability across order cycles. The plan uses compact, scalable AutoStore cells designed for mid-sized facilities, with capacity that can grow by adding modules. this move keeps upfront costs predictable while delivering a robust path to full deployment. weve defined a 6- to 9-month evaluation window with clear go/no-go criteria and a formal review of results to accelerate decisions. thank partners for their collaboration and we keep the focus on real-world metrics that drive future growth.

Customer segments in the Americas

• Direct-to-consumer e-commerce and marketplaces across the US, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil
• Grocery and multi-channel retailers needing fast replenishment and high availability
• 3PL providers and manufacturers with high SKU counts and complex replenishment cycles
• Healthcare and pharma distributors requiring strict inventory control and reliable goods-to-person handling

Pilot programs and how they translate to future scale

1. North America e-commerce hub (US West Coast)

   • Objective: cut order cycle time and improve pick accuracy for high-velocity SKUs
   • Site profile: 40k–60k sq ft facility with 1–2 AutoStore cells, designed for fast deployment
   • Metrics: accuracy above 99.5%, throughput uplift 20–35%, stored capacity grow from baseline by 2x within six months
   • Package and packaging: supports multi-pack orders and next-day dispatch, improving availability on top SKUs
   • Outcome trigger: if ROI is clear and operations stay seamless, move to additional modules and ya de-risk the account for broader rollout

2. Brazil multi-channel retailer and fresh/frozen (São Paulo corridor)

   • Code name: baca; objective: sustain high-frequency replenishment across a volatile customs window and localized demand
   • Site profile: 50k sq ft facility with a flexible goods-to-person layout, designed to absorb seasonal peaks
   • Metrics: availability of top 30 SKUs above 99%, capacity utilization reaching >85% during peak weeks
   • Operations: supports cold-chain integration and package consolidation for cross-dock
   • Outcome trigger: if local cycle time < 8 hours and stored goods maintain clear traceability, scale with additional modules

3. Canada–US cross-border 3PL pilot (Ontario–Quebec corridor)

   • Objective: optimize cross-border throughput and reduce landed cost for cross-border e-fulfillment
   • Site profile: 30k–45k sq ft with modular cells ready for cross-dock operations
   • Metrics: availability at border points, throughputs up 25–40%, move speed from dock to pick face
   • Next steps: build a white-label service option for regional carriers and demonstrate robust scheduling against unpredictable peak days
   • Outcome trigger: if the model proves resilient to regulatory checks and yields measurable improvements in service levels, replicate in additional markets

Design and governance notes

• All pilots use a designed path to scale, with a clear upgrade ladder from single-cell to multi-cell deployments
• Each pilot aligns with a dedicated account team to ensure suporturi and rapid issue resolution
• Next steps focus on refining WMS integration, availability of spare parts, and remote monitoring to prevent throws in process
• Financials emphasize simple CAPEX with predictable OPEX and a future proof plan that makes expansion straightforward
• In all pilots, the goal is a white glove handover to local operations once metrics meet predefined thresholds

System integration: WMS, ERP, and API considerations

Begin with an API-first integration plan that links WMS, ERP, and external systems using a shared data model. This development approach empowers the employee by giving them a single reference for orders, stock levels, and shipments, where data stay synchronized across platforms. To prevent downtime, deploy a resilient API gateway and high-availability services, and set an action plan with clear milestones and owners to move quickly. This supports digital workflows across teams.

Define a common data contract for WMS and ERP that covers core entities such as item, lot, order, and shipment. These mappings simplify integration for those systems and reduce reconciliation latency. The solution uses a consistent payload and versioning to prevent breaking changes.

Architect a layered setup: connectors for WMS and ERP, an API gateway, lightweight microservices, and an event bus. Data already moves between WMS and ERP, and the most reliable path uses event-driven updates rather than batch-only transfers. The pattern became the standard for cross-system updates, and it lets teams react quickly to issues. They can tune error handling, retries, and back-pressure without impacting the customer experience. They want to enable you to allow faster recovery in case of faults.

Security basics: apply OAuth2 or mutual TLS, enforce least privilege, and keep an auditable trail. Implement API rate limits, secret rotation, and regular vulnerability checks so availability remains strong across sites, including calif warehouses.

Operational plan: run a 90-day pilot at calif facilities to validate data contracts, timing, and error handling. Track metrics such as API latency under 100 ms for core calls, uptime at least 99.9%, and reconciliation time between systems. Use these results to scale to other regions and guide future updates.

People and governance: designate a system owner, train teams on how to use APIs, and document the data dictionary for developers and operators. Ensure availability of a support channel and cross-functional reviews to keep the integration aligned with operations.

Actionable tips: build idempotent endpoints, publish inventory events, and maintain backward-compatible versioning to reduce disruption. Use calif-based teams to learn and transfer best practices to other sites with minimal friction.

After-sales support: service levels, spare parts, and local field teams

Establish a regional spare-parts hub in Bernardino and Baca to enhance processing and guarantee 24/7 parts availability, delivering next-day dispatch for 95% of standard items and reducing guest impact during disruptions.

Set clear service levels with tiered response times: Critical issues receive remote diagnosis within 2 hours and on-site support within 4 hours; high priority within 6 hours; standard requests within 24 hours. These targets support moving operations smoothly and minimize downtime.

Stock and share spare parts across key nodes, including Bernardino, Colman, Hoag, and Baca centers; maintain retrieval kits with the parts most likely to fail; prioritize common assemblies to speed front-line repairs.

Deploy skilled local field teams anchored at major markets, with routes that move technicians between hubs and sites to shorten travel times. Provide ongoing training and cross-training, plus remote diagnostic support. Target 95% first-time fix and 98% on-time visits across these front-line efforts; review stock adequacy quarterly.

Through advanced analytics, these efforts forecast demand, align inventory with product lifecycles, and prevent disruptions. Retrieval operations stay aligned with product design, meeting guests’ expectations for quick, reliable service. Products designed for harsh processing environments become easier to support locally.

источник: internal ops data and field service dashboards inform weekly adjustments to stocking, parts sourcing, and field-team assignments.