Parts Authority Scales Automotive Parts Fulfillment With AutoStore

With nearly 4x higher picking rates, 4x greater throughput, and an ROI of under three years, Parts Authority’s AutoStore system has transformed fulfillment at its Windsor facility. Built with growth in mind, the high-density, scalable system gives Parts Authority the capacity and flexibility to support continued expansion.

Parts Authority is a leading distributor of automotive and truck parts, tools, equipment, and transmission products, serving customers through an extensive omni-channel network across the United States. As the business has grown, so have the demands on its distribution network.

Parts Authority has been supplying automotive parts across the United States for more than 50 years. Today, the aftermarket distributor operates more than 400 locations nationwide, serving installers, jobbers, and e-commerce customers. 

As the business grew, so did the demands on its distribution network. Parts Authority needed to handle more orders and more SKUs, without simply adding more space and labor. That challenge became particularly important as the company planned its expansion into the Northeast. 

At its Windsor Fulfillment Center in Connecticut, Parts Authority has built an automation platform designed not just for today's volumes, but for continued growth. With AutoStore at its core, the operation combines high-density storage with goods-to-person fulfillment to increase capacity, improve performance, and create a scalable foundation for the future.

“Some of the biggest benefits have been improved picking performance, increased throughput across the building, and a lower cost per line.”

Mark Tsutsui, Senior Vice President of Warehouse Operations, Parts Authority

Growth without simply adding more space 

Parts Authority's growth meant more inventory and increasing order volumes had to move through the Windsor facility. But simply adding more warehouse space wasn't a sustainable answer. The company needed to increase capacity and fulfillment performance while making better use of the space it already had.

Its large and diverse automotive parts assortment added another layer of complexity. Orders needed to be picked quickly and accurately across multiple channels, while inventory accuracy remained critical to providing reliable customer service.

The challenge was therefore both physical and operational: store more inventory within the available footprint while increasing the speed, efficiency, and scalability of fulfillment.

Automation offered a way to address both; reducing manual travel, bringing products directly to operators, and creating an operation capable of growing alongside the business.

AutoStore at the heart of the operation

AutoStore became the cornerstone of Parts Authority's automation strategy.

A large proportion of the company's assortment consists of smaller automotive parts well suited to cube storage. The resulting AutoStore Grid occupies approximately 23,000 square feet (2,137 square meters) and contains more than 80,000 Bins, stacked 16 levels high.

Approximately 90 Robots move across the top of the Grid, retrieving inventory and delivering the required Bins directly to operators. More than 150,000 SKUs can be stored within the AutoStore system.

The dense storage enabled Parts Authority to place a significant amount of inventory into a relatively small area while creating a foundation that could accommodate increasing volumes over time.

Bringing inventory to the operator

Rather than warehouse associates walking through aisles to locate individual products, AutoStore brings inventory directly to operators at Ports.

The Windsor facility operates across three shifts. Six picking Ports support outbound fulfillment during the first two shifts, while three dedicated induction Ports support replenishment. During the third shift, the picking Ports can also be used for replenishment.

When fulfilling an order, the required Bin is retrieved from the Grid and presented to the operator. The associate picks the required item into an order tote, which then continues through the facility's downstream fulfillment process.

This goods-to-person workflow reduces unnecessary travel while enabling employees to focus on picking and order processing.

It has also contributed to a significant improvement in picking performance. Parts Authority reports almost a fourfold improvement in picking rates with AutoStore compared with its previous processes.

Performance that extends beyond picking

The impact of automation at Windsor extends across the operation.

Parts Authority reports improvements in picking, inbound processing, outbound operations, and overall throughput. The company has also highlighted cost-per-line benefits resulting from the system.

At the same time, performance cannot come at the expense of accuracy. For a distributor managing a large number of automotive SKUs, knowing exactly what inventory is available is fundamental to fulfilling customer orders correctly.

“Our inventory accuracy is also critically important for us because if we don't have the accuracy, we can't properly service the customers.”

Mark Tsutsui, Senior Vice President of Warehouse Operations, Parts Authority

The AutoStore system also provides the reliability required for a high-volume fulfillment operation, with Parts Authority reporting system uptime above 99%.

Together, density, goods-to-person fulfillment, reliability, and integration with the wider warehouse automation allow Parts Authority to move significantly more volume through the facility than its previous processes could support.

Automation has allowed Parts Authority to absorb that growth while delivering significant improvements across the operation: 

• Nearly 4x improvement in AutoStore picking rates

• 6x improvement in throughput in the company's sealed-air shipping process

• At least 4x improvement in inbound

• At least 5x improvement in outbound

• More than 99% system uptime and reliability 

Growing with the business

The Windsor operation was designed not only around Parts Authority's requirements at launch, but around where the business was heading.

Since the system went live in 2022, the company has continued to grow and the facility has evolved alongside it. The broader automation platform has been expanded and adapted as operational requirements and volumes have increased.

That ability to evolve is particularly important for Parts Authority. Instead of implementing automation for one fixed set of volumes, the company has created a platform that can support continued optimization as its network develops.

The scalability and flexibility of AutoStore are central to that approach. Capacity can be expanded over time while maintaining the core system architecture, helping Parts Authority respond to growth without completely redesigning its fulfillment model.

The Windsor facility is therefore becoming more than a successful individual warehouse project. It is informing how Parts Authority approaches automation elsewhere in its network.

“This building and this automation platform is really the basis for new designs that will come up in the future and also changes within our network as it relates to optimization.”

Mark Tsutsui, Senior Vice President of Warehouse Operations, Parts Authority

For Parts Authority, AutoStore provides a dense and reliable fulfillment foundation for today's operation while supporting the company's ambitions for continued growth and network optimization.

Project Specifications:

• Location: Windsor, Connecticut, USA
• Facility: 225,000 sq. ft. (20,903 sq. m) omnichannel fulfillment center
• AutoStore Grid: Approximately 23,000 sq. ft. (2,137 sq. m)
• Robots: 90 Robots
• Workstations (Ports): Six picking Ports and three dedicated induction Ports; picking Ports can also support replenishment during the third shift
• Bins: More than 80,000 Bins, stacked 16 levels high
• SKU capacity: More than 150,000 SKUs stored in AutoStore
• Operations: Three-shift omnichannel fulfillment
• Integrated automation: Put-to-light, conveyor, Geek+ AMRs, automated taping, print-and-apply labeling, automated shipping box creation, and outbound sortation
• Partner: KPI Solutions