AutoStore Powers Arvato’s Global, High-Speed Fulfillment Growth

Arvato is a global provider of supply chain management and fulfillment solutions for leading brands across fashion, beauty, tech, healthcare, and consumer goods. With a broad automation footprint, the company now operates 15 AutoStore systems worldwide, 5 empowered by Kardex and 10 empowered by Swisslog.

Building on this experience, Arvato recently expanded its AutoStore system in its Hams Hall site, Birmingham, England to support rising demand from fast-growing consumer brands. The expansion, empowered by Kardex, delivered significantly higher throughput, speed, and storage density with minimal operational disruption.

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The Challenge: Meeting fast-moving client demands

To onboard a rapidly growing international apparel brand, Arvato needed to:

• Increase throughput to manage high daily order volumes
• Expand storage density within a limited footprint
• Scale quickly without interrupting active warehouse operations
• Maintain fast fulfillment speeds under peak demand
• Ensure the system could support future volume growth

With fast-paced B2C e-commerce requirements and strict service-level expectations, Arvato needed a solution proven for both speed and scalability.

The Solution: High-density automation for scalable fulfillment

To meet these requirements, Arvato chose to scale its existing AutoStore system, which had already demonstrated strong density, fast cycle times, and reliable performance. Building on an established, well-running installation allowed the team to add capacity without introducing new complexity.

The upgrade was completed in just over three months, supporting a smooth onboarding process and enabling high-performance fulfillment from day one. This outcome reflects the combination of Kardex’s efficient execution, Arvato’s focused automation strategy, and the modular nature of the AutoStore solution.

Key enhancements included:‍

‍Grid and Robots‍

• ‍Bin (tote) count increased from 65,000 to 87,600‍
• R5 Robots fleet increased from 130 to 165
• Total storage capacity reached ~1.2 million units
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Ports (workstations)

• Additional Ports (Workstations) added to support higher throughput
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Speed of Deployment

• Initial UK installation (2023): 7 months
• Latest expansion (2025): just over 3 months

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Key Benefits: Speed, capacity, and high throughput

The expansion delivered significant performance gains, enabling the Hams Hall site to operate with greater speed, higher throughput, and improved flexibility. These enhancements allow Arvato to continue meeting the rising expectations of consumer brands while maintaining exceptional service levels across fast-growing e-commerce channels.

Key benefits include:

• ‍30% capacity increase: Greater inventory storage within the same footprint, enabling stronger availability and reduced replenishment cycles.
• ‍26,000+ orders/day during peak: Expanded Robot fleet and additional Ports provide the throughput required for high-volume e-commerce operations.
• ‍Rapid scalability: A just-over-three-month expansion timeline enabled Arvato to respond quickly to growing customer needs and market opportunities.
• ‍Faster workflows: Optimized picking and replenishment reduce processing times and enhance overall throughput during both steady-state and peak periods.
• ‍Future-ready flexibility: The system can easily scale through additional Robots, Ports, or further Grid extensions as volumes expand.
• ‍Reliable and efficient operations: Strong uptime, stable performance, and automation-driven accuracy support high service quality and operational resilience.

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AutoStore supports Arvato’s long-term growth strategy

The Hams Hall expansion reflects Arvato’s broader approach to scalable fulfillment: using modular automation to add capacity quickly, maintain high throughput during peak demand, and support fast-growing consumer brands. As part of its network of 15 AutoStore sites worldwide, Arvato applies a consistent automation strategy that allows successful configurations to be replicated and scaled across regions.

By strengthening capacity, density, and speed within an existing footprint, the Hams Hall project demonstrates how AutoStore enables Arvato to adapt rapidly to customer growth while building a resilient, future-ready logistics network.

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Project Specifications, Hams Hall Site

Hams Hall, United Kingdom (Expansion 2025)

Installation type: Brownfield expansion
Robots: 165 R5 Robots
Workstations (Ports): Expanded inbound and outbound configuration
Bins (totes): 87,600 Bins
Storage capacity: ~1.2 million units
Peak picking capacity: 26,000+ orders/day
Peak outbound units: 90,000+ units/day
Implementation timeline: 7 months for the initial system installation in 2023, just over 3 months for the 2025 expansion of the system