3PL Giant Active Ants Chooses AutoStore

Watch Video: Founder of Active Ants on AutoStore

Introducing Active Ants

Active Ants provides warehousing services to online shops in three countries: The Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. From here, orders are shipped to Europe and other countries on behalf of various shop owners.

This e-fulfillment (or e-commerce logistics) company, has its headquarters in Nieuwegein, Utrecht, in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1987 as ALlpak B.V. It merged with Shopservices B.V. in 2006 and, by 2012, the business shifted its focus entirely to e-fulfillment. In 2014, the dynamic company started operating as Active Ants.

“We provide all kinds of logistics services for webshops, such as goods receiving, storage, order picking, shipping, and return logistics,” explains Jeroen Dekker, Managing Partner at Active Ants.   

He says that picking was done manually, but as the company specializes in large quantities of small items requiring a great amount of storage space, business growth became a problem. Active Ants needed more storage space, and they needed it fast.

“Operators walked long distances past the shelf racks with a hand scanner and picked the orders manually,” Dekker says. “We decided to automate this process and settled on the AutoStore system (empowered by Egemin, now part of Dematic).”
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Why Active Ants Chose AutoStore

The adoption of AutoStore was driven by a need for more efficient, scalable, and sustainable logistics solutions. AutoStore's compact and automated nature provided the necessary scalability and environmental consideration.

"We saw that the traditional logistic players did not have a very good answer to the growth", says Jeroen Dekker.

"We looked for a sustainable model, sustainable for both the environment and humans. And then we decided to work with automation, and robotization, to take the heavy work away from the workers and give it to the robots," Dekker adds.

Active Ants were also looking for a system that could increase efficiency. "With AutoStore, the storage is very dense, so you can store up to six times as efficiently per square foot, as traditional warehousing. In contrast to other automated bin storage systems, it's very efficient because the robots drive on top and not in between. So the storage is as dense as you can get it."

Benefits of the AutoStore system 

The AutoStore system has been incredibly beneficial for the Active Ants team: they’ve cut costs by 35% and have increased their storage capacity significantly.

Sustainability

Active Ants' commitment to sustainability is vividly reflected in their implementation of the AutoStore system. Jeroen Dekker, the Managing Partner, emphasizes the ecological advantages:

“The system is very ecologically friendly and therefore sustainable,” Dekker adds. "The electricity usage is incredible. Every robot just requires one hundred watts. [Ten] AutoStore robots use as little energy as a vacuum cleaner".

AutoStore has been instrumental in helping Active Ants reduce their energy costs, and meet their sustainability goals.

"In the Northampton site, we have about one thousand solar panels on the roof. So we can be fully self-supported, and we don't need any external electricity. And that's a really cool thing, to meet our sustainability goals. In this industry, together with AutoStore, we're changing the industry."

Space Efficiency

With AutoStore, Active Ants have increased their storage capacity significantly.

"And, then, of course, this compact and efficient storage solution has meant an increase of 75 percent to the storage capacity per square meter (or square foot),” says Dekker. "With AutoStore, the storage is very dense, so you can store up to six times as efficiently per square foot, as traditional warehousing. Also in contrast to other automated bin storage systems, it's very efficient because the robots drive on top and not in between. So the storage is as dense as you can get it. That's a big plus."

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Order Picking

The implementation of AutoStore has revolutionized order-picking processes at Active Ants. Jeroen Dekker, Managing Partner, explains the significant improvements:

“We require fewer people for order picking. So we use it as a picking machine, and it increases the efficiency of picking enormously. While at the same time, the quality of the picking increases a lot. You make fewer mistakes, it goes both ways. That makes the AutoStore really, really valuable for us."

In addition to these improvements, Dekker highlights another key benefit: “The products are stored free of dust.”

Easy Scalability

In a fast-growing business, the ability to expand without disruptions to the operations is crucial – and another significant benefit.

According to Dekker, this expandability is very important to a fast-growing company such as Active Ants. “We can add more picking ports [and] add new robots. We can easily expand the number of Bins while the system is running.”

Indeed, since the original installation in 2016, Active Ants has expanded their original systems multiple times through the addition of new Robots and Bins as well as grid extensions.

How the warehouse system works

The AutoStore automated warehouse system, initially installed in 2016, was massively enlarged in 2018 due to the business’s enormous growth at the time. AutoStore now handles 90 percent of the picking of all goods in the system; the rest is done manually.

After multiple expansions, their systems consist of over 180,000 Bins and 150 Robots delivering items to pickers at workstations. Moreover, the systems are built in such a way that everything can be easily expanded. In the future, it will be possible to expand to 440,000 Bins and 500 Robots.

The goods go through a four-part process:

1. Goods are received, identified, and scanned before being placed in a Bin.
2. Orders are received and processed.
3. Robots are directed to retrieve the Bin containing the stock. 
4. Robots deliver the goods to the right packers for shipping to customers and then return Bins to the grid.

At Active Ants’ warehouse, Robots glide over the top of the AutoStore Grid at a speed of about 3m (9.8 feet) per second. Then, they use long grippers to pull up the requested Bins from below at a speed of 1.6m (5.2 feet) per second. The system places Bins containing goods not required for that particular order in nearby cells. Once the Robot has retrieved the right Bin, it will deliver it to the picking station while another Robot moves the displaced Bins back to their original locations on the 16-layer Grid.

Conclusion

By integrating AutoStore's advanced automation technology, Active Ants has not only boosted its operational efficiency but also pioneered sustainability in logistics. Their dedication to scalable solutions, energy-efficient operations, and superior order processing marks them as a front-runner in the e-fulfillment sector. As Active Ants continues to grow and adapt, it stands as an example of how the right technology can revolutionize e-commerce logistics, setting a standard for others in the industry to follow.