Warehouse 4.0

The WH4.0 project is brought about by 3 SMEs from Wallonia : ATI, Technic One, Visio Ing Consult, 1 final user : Castle Ingredients, 1 research centre: SIRRIS and 1 university : UCLouvain.

The project will deliver a prototype for a hangar that is supported by autonomous shuttles and optimised by a warehouse management solution carried out by artificial intelligence.

The project’s concept is based on the optimisation of storage capacities for a given floor surface and on an improvement in the speed of the transfer of goods, while still guaranteeing maximum quality.

The idea is to develop an automated and autonomous pallet storage system in a 3-dimensional space. The logistics solution piloted by artificial intelligence will allow to either store the pallets automatically or help the operator according to predefined characteristics (types of goods, expected entrances and exits, demands inherent to the client, etc.).

The innovative and exceptional features of this project reside in : the elimination of transversal aisles in storage infrastructures (usually reserved for storage and retrieval machines or forklift trucks, which reduce available storage space) ; in the use of shuttles that can move outside the storage structure to retrieve or drop off pallets at loading docks or in production halls ; and finally in the elaboration of a logistical solution that maximises transfers and storage operations with the use of optimisation  algorithms and artificial intelligence.

The demonstrator generated by this research will integrate a 3-dimensional storage structure into a warehouse, a set of autonomous and secured shuttles, and an intelligent warehouse management solution.

At the end of the project, the demonstrator will lead to the commercialisation of an automated, autonomous, intelligent and secure storage hall ; in short, a warehouse 4.0.