From “People Finding Goods” to “Goods Finding People”: How Automated Bin Warehouses Are Reshaping E-commerce Warehousing

Against the backdrop of consumer upgrades and the explosion of demand for instant delivery, traditional e-commerce warehousing models are facing the efficiency bottleneck of “people finding goods.” Problems such as time-consuming manual sorting, slow inventory turnover, and frequent wrong or missed shipments are becoming core pain points that limit business competitiveness. According to industry data, e-commerce companies that rely on traditional manual warehousing have an average order processing time exceeding 24 hours, with an error rate of up to 0.5%, and labor costs account for over 30% of their operating expenses. How can these bottlenecks be overcome? StorLogi’s automated bin warehouse offers a disruptive solution: by adopting a “goods find people” intelligent sorting model, warehousing efficiency is increased by more than 4 times compared to traditional models, the error rate drops below 0.01%, and reliance on labor and space costs is significantly reduced.

I. Three Fatal Pain Points of Traditional Warehousing

1.Low Space Utilization
In traditional flat warehouse models, the height of shelves is generally no more than 5 meters, and large aisles are required for forklift operations, resulting in insufficient storage capacity per unit area. For example, in a certain clothing e-commerce warehouse of 3,000㎡, only 50,000 items can be stored, and with over 150,000 SKUs, aisle space occupies 40% of the total area, causing warehouse costs to remain high.

2.Low Efficiency and Accuracy in Manual Sorting
Manual sorting relies on the “memory + walking” model. Pickers walk more than 10 kilometers a day, with an order processing efficiency of only 20-30 orders per hour and an error rate as high as 0.3%-0.5%. During peak promotional events like “Double 11,” manual sorting often leads to order backlogs, and shipping times extend to 3-5 days.

3.Lack of Dynamic Response in Inventory Management
Traditional warehousing relies on manual stocktaking and experience-based restocking, which leads to outdated and inaccurate inventory data. A certain 3C e-commerce company once faced a stockout rate of 15% for hot-selling products and over 25% of unsold inventory, resulting in annual losses exceeding 10 million RMB due to chaotic inventory data.

II. Technological Reconstruction of Automated Bin Warehouses

StorLogi’s automated bin warehouse is based on the “goods find people” core concept, integrating “hardware + software + algorithms” for in-depth fusion, enabling fully intelligent warehousing processes:

1.Vertical Storage: 3x Space Density Improvement
By using 20-meter high multi-layer shelves and dynamic aisle adjustment technology, coupled with high-speed stacker cranes (operating speed of 360m/min), storage capacity per unit area is increased by 300% compared to traditional warehouses. For instance, in a certain electronics factory, the inventory increased from 50,000 items to 160,000 items within the same area, reducing rental costs by 60%. The shelf design allows flexible layout adjustments, supporting the storage of more than 150,000 SKUs, perfectly suited to the diverse, small-batch storage needs of the e-commerce industry.

2.Intelligent Sorting: A Breakthrough in Both Efficiency and Precision

AGV Cluster Collaboration: Through AI dynamic path planning algorithms, a robot cluster of 400 AGVs can simultaneously handle tens of thousands of orders. Sorting efficiency is increased by 5 times, and the frequency of handling single-item orders is reduced by 20%.

Visual Recognition and Robotic Arms: Equipped with high-precision industrial cameras and deep learning algorithms, robotic arms automatically identify and accurately grasp items, achieving a picking accuracy rate of 99.99%, reducing the error rate from 0.4% to 0.02%.

Intelligent Sorting Walls: Combined with conveyor lines and lightning dispatch devices, the re-picking rate increases by 20%, and the daily dispatch volume per warehouse can reach 150,000 items, efficiently handling peak promotional periods.

3.Intelligent Management System: Data-Driven Dynamic Optimization
Integrated with WMS (Warehouse Management System) and WCS (Warehouse Control System), three core functions are realized:

Dynamic Inventory Optimization: Based on historical sales data and promotional forecasts, AI automatically adjusts shelf layout, placing high-demand items closer to picking areas, reducing the outbound response time to minutes.

Exception Warning and Self-repair: Real-time monitoring of equipment status and inventory fluctuations triggers automatic restocking or equipment maintenance instructions, reducing downtime by 90%.

End-to-End Traceability: Using RFID tags and digital twin technology, all goods can be traced from warehouse entry to delivery, ensuring compliance with the strict traceability requirements of e-commerce businesses.

III. StorLogi’s Practical Examples: From Pain Points to Gains

1.A Clothing E-commerce Company: Efficiency Surge and Cost Reduction
After introducing StorLogi’s automated bin warehouse, the company’s order processing volume increased from 800 orders per day to 3,000 orders per day, with labor costs reduced by 75%. The intelligent sorting system allowed the company to achieve a daily dispatch volume of over 150,000 items during “Double 11,” with an error rate as low as 0.003%. Customer satisfaction increased by 25%.

2.A Pharmaceutical Cold Chain Company: Compliance and Profitability Win-Win
To meet the strict storage requirements for pharmaceuticals, StorLogi customized a precise temperature and humidity control system (±0.3°C/±2% RH) and light-proof, dust-proof solutions. The pharmaceutical loss rate dropped from 0.1% to 0.02%, and inventory turnover days decreased from 90 days to 35 days, releasing over 20 million RMB in funds.

3.Vietnam Cross-border E-commerce: A Stepping Stone for Global Expansion
In a project in Vietnam, StorLogi built a full-process automated system combining vertical storage and automatic sorting machines, supporting sorting capacity of 2,000 orders per hour. Cross-border delivery time was compressed to 3 days. After the project went live, the client’s ROI period was shortened to 12 months, with annual net profits increasing by 5 million RMB.

IV. Future Trends: From Automation to Autonomous Transition

1.AI Autonomous Evolution System
StorLogi is developing a deep learning-based autonomous decision-making system that, through real-time data iteration, optimizes sorting paths and inventory strategies. In the future, fully autonomous warehousing with “zero human intervention” may be achieved.

2.Human-Machine Collaboration 3.0 Era
Workers wear AR glasses to receive AI instructions and realize “seeing is believing” in complex picking scenarios, reducing error rates to near zero. For example, a 3C electronics company shortened the picker training cycle from 1 week to just 1 day using this technology.

3.Green Warehousing Practices
By adopting permanent magnet synchronous motors, LED lighting, and energy recovery systems, a cold-chain logistics center saved over 1.2 million RMB in annual electricity costs and reduced carbon emissions by 400 tons, while receiving over 800,000 RMB in green supply chain subsidies.

Conclusion: Reconstructing the Underlying Logic of Warehousing

StorLogi’s automated bin warehouse is not only a technological upgrade but also a fundamental reconstruction of warehousing logic—shifting from the passive response of “people finding goods” to the proactive service of “goods finding people,” and from spatially wasted flat storage to vertically expanded intelligent storage. Through high-density storage, intelligent sorting, and data-driven dynamic optimization, e-commerce warehousing is transforming from a cost center into a value creation center. As demonstrated by a certain baby product company, after renovation, the warehouse area remained the same, but inventory increased by 320%, labor costs were reduced by 75%, and they truly achieved “creating higher value with less space, less labor, and lower costs.” In the wave of instant retail and omnichannel retail, automated bin warehouses will become the infrastructure for e-commerce companies to build core competitiveness, and StorLogi is leading this warehousing revolution through technological innovation and global expansion.