Technology
AutoStore Debuts New Modular Robot Factory to Support Global Market Expansion
Explore how AutoStore's Thailand expansion boosts production, doubling capacity with a diversified supplier base, enhancing operational efficiency worldwide.
Explore how AutoStore's Thailand expansion boosts production, doubling capacity with a diversified supplier base, enhancing operational efficiency worldwide.
NEDRE VATS, Norway — June 13th, 2024 – AutoStore™, the global warehouse technology company that’s transforming warehouse automation with modular storage, has announced today the opening of its assembly factory in Rayong Province, Thailand. This milestone marks a strategic move in the company's global expansion efforts, bringing cutting-edge robotics production closer to key markets, including Japan, Korea, and the United States.
With over 1,450 systems distributed across 54 countries, AutoStore is the most widely adopted automated fulfillment system on the planet. As AutoStore accelerates its expansion across North America, the new robot factory in Thailand will help get the company’s automated storage and retrieval system into U.S. warehouses faster and more efficiently. In the U.S. alone, 232 systems and 17,000 robots are already in operation, with top brands like Puma, Gucci, Best Buy, and relying on AutoStore’s advanced technology to meet the rising demands of ecommerce.
"Since 2012, our robots have been manufactured and shipped exclusively from Poland. With increased demand in our automated fulfillment system across North America and worldwide, it’s become imperative that we opened a second robot factory to better serve current and future customers," said Mats Hovland Vikse, CEO at AutoStore. "The workforce availability, proximity to harbors and airports, favorable labor costs, and government incentives for automation companies made Thailand an ideal location for our second robot factory to power AutoStore’s North American operations."
“In the last 24 months, we have tripled our existing capacity and we put in place a structure to go 10x in another 24 months if needed," said Israel Losada Salvador, COO at AutoStore. "With our expansion into Thailand, we have not only increased capacity but also established a more diversified supplier base. AutoStore’s lead times have gone from 34 weeks to 20 weeks.”
Instead of shelf-based storage and manual retrieval, AutoStore employs a cube-based modular storage system using state-of-the-art robots to provide retailers with a solution that accelerates order fulfillment, maximizes warehouse space, and improves operational efficiency.
The new factory in Thailand is expected to create around 80 direct employment opportunities in its first year, with plans to increase to 200-300 jobs by 2026. Within the next 18 months, AutoStore aims to produce 15,000 robots—doubling its current capacity to meet demand for customers in North America.
The new factory is the latest effort by the company to better serve the North American market. The news comes on the heels of the opening of its new U.S. headquarters in the greater Boston region and the expansion of several key customer partnerships including with leading U.S.-based medical supply leader Medline.
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Media Contact: Patrik Wallgren, patrik.wallgren@autostoresystem.com
About AutoStore:
AutoStore™, founded in 1996, is a technology company that develops order-fulfillment solutions to help businesses achieve efficiency gains within the storage and retrieval of goods. The company offers both hardware and software capabilities and the AutoStore technology is interoperable with other third-party solutions.
AutoStore is global, with ~1,450 Systems in 54 countries. All sales are distributed, designed, installed, and serviced by a network of qualified system integrators referred to as "partners".
AutoStore was founded in Nedre Vats, on the west coast of Norway. The company has offices in Norway, the U.S., UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and Singapore, as well as assembly facilities in Poland.
