The term “elegance” appears frequently on Exotec's website, and you might just dismiss it as another tagline in the vast sea of content marketing. However, for the company, this is not just a marketing phrase; it is also a design philosophy.
The approach started with the idea of mathematical elegance. That is, finding solutions and proofs that are surprisingly simple yet insightful. There are plenty of definitions of mathematical elegance out there, but the key tenets typically include:
The bottom line is elegant solutions make complex things simple.
Warehouses are complex, storing, picking, packing, and shipping thousands or even millions of items every day, with little to no room for error. Unfortunately, this means automated solutions built for warehouses often mirror this complexity with convoluted designs that require an immense amount of engineering to implement and maintain.
Traditional automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS) demonstrate that point, according to Exotec.
Take a traditional shuttle system as an example. These systems typically consist of shuttles dedicated to specific aisles and a series of elevators and conveyors that help move goods between multiple levels in an aisle and eventually get them to warehouse associates.
This complexity puts stringent limitations on the system, especially when it comes to the flexibility of the ASRS. For instance, scaling a shuttle system could involve significant modifications to the existing infrastructure, costing time and money, said the company.
In addition, if a single point of this system fails—such as an elevator—then a large portion of inventory could become inaccessible for a long period of time, it noted.
Exotec claimed that it did the hard work of making things easy from the moment its autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) leave its manufacturing plant in France all the way to installation, maintenance, and eventually scaling the system to fit the evolving customer needs. It said this is possible because of the design choices it made when conceptualizing the Skypod system. Its key components include:
Instead of iterating on existing ASRS designs, Exotec said it invented a new one with each component designed to be simple to deploy, operate, maintain, and scale. Since warehouse operations are often complex, the company said it didn't want to add to that.
Exotec said it doesn't conduct lengthy projects that require years of planning and “Frankensteining” together different bespoke solutions. Instead, it sells products that it said are modular, performant, and reliable. That is what “elegance” means for the company, which has offices in Atlanta; Landshut, Germany; and Tokyo.