Automated Urban Warehouses: The Key to Faster and More Compact Logistics

By Wim Vermeir, Senior Sales Executive for the Benelux region.

As urbanization intensifies and land prices rise accordingly, it becomes crucial to make the most efficient use of the limited available space on the outskirts of cities. The warehouse of the future will therefore be compact, multi-level, and automated.

It’s hard to imagine today, but in the middle of the last century, rural areas were twice as populated as urban ones. Since then—and especially in recent decades—urbanization has accelerated dramatically. Since around 2008, the trend has fully reversed. It is therefore increasingly important to locate logistics infrastructure as close as possible to large cities. This proximity is essential to reduce delivery times, particularly given rising traffic congestion.

Building Upward

Another trend driving the need to build storage facilities close to urban centers is the growing popularity of e-commerce. After unprecedented growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, the sector logically experienced a dip in the following years—people could finally shop in stores again, hooray!—but in 2023, online retail bounced back with an 11% increase in turnover. In 2024, Belgians spent a total of €17.4 billion online—€1 billion more than in 2023 (a nearly 7% increase), setting a new record. Experts expect continued growth in 2025. E-commerce now sets the pace where fast delivery has become the norm.

This shift affects not only the location of warehouses and distribution centers, but also how they are built and laid out. With land becoming increasingly expensive, it must be used as efficiently as possible—which means building upward. Long gone are the low, sprawling warehouses where forklifts navigated between aisles. The warehouse of the future will have a relatively small footprint but feature racking systems that reach as high as possible. Thanks to the latest generation of high-density racking developed by Exotec, it is now possible to reach heights of up to 14 meters, offering up to 30 vertical storage levels. When you consider that each square meter can hold up to 60 bins, a storage area with a 1,000-square-meter footprint can accommodate as many as 60,000 bins.

The robots

All of that vertical space can now be utilized almost to full capacity. Forklifts and employees are no longer needed to move goods between racks. This task is carried out quickly, safely, and efficiently by robots, which require minimal space to maneuver both vertically and horizontally. Our newly launched Skypod Next Generation robots are even more compact than before and offer greater freedom of movement—resulting in a 30% increase in maximum storage density. With this new design, fewer conveyors, sorters, external storage units, and packing stations are needed, further reducing the system’s overall footprint.

Conclusion

The conclusion is clear. In my view, there are few industries where adapting to societal changes is as critical as it is in logistics. Growing urbanization, rising land costs, and the continued popularity of e-commerce mean that companies in our sector must fundamentally rethink their approach—and in many cases, their infrastructure. The future of logistics is vertical, automated, and customer-centric. Only those who invest today in smart warehouse technology will be prepared for the challenges of tomorrow.