AutoStore
Improving custom warehouse automation.In collaboration with AutoStore's System Design team we imagined the future of its design and simulation tools, improving the way they create custom warehouse solutions.
Design and simulation tools for warehousing
The System Design team at AutoStore creates bespoke warehousing solutions for its customers. These solutions, called Grids, are designed using AutoStore’s own software: a design tool that allows them to outfit a warehouse of any shape or size with an AutoStore installation.
We helped AutoStore ideate and design an improved, browser-based design tool. At its core, it allows the designer and their client to collaborate more closely, and invites the client into the design process—from gathering the system’s requirements to iterating on the design until it is finalised.
Quote Bente Bakke or Jonas Jakobsen
The tool allows designers to review a client's requirements and upload a floor plan of the warehouse they’re designing for. They can design several versions of an AutoStore Grid using an array of tools, and invite other System Designers to collaborate or leave comments on their proposed solutions. All projects are collected in a dashboard and easily accessible.
To validate their work, the designers use a Simulator to expose their design to real-world scenarios and test its effectiveness. Previously available as a separate application, our proposal combines both the Design and Simulation tools into one browser-based tool, allowing designers to run their simulations while designing their Grids and saving them a lot of valuable time throughout the design process.
Simulating various scenarios to test a system’s effectiveness and expose vulnerabilities is a breeze with the newly integrated simulation tool.
Simulating various scenarios to test a system’s effectiveness and expose vulnerabilities is a breeze with the newly integrated simulation tool.
The tool takes the designer through every step of the design process. From gathering requirements to setting up a grid; from adding parts and creating several versions of a design, to simulating its use and exporting a list of necessary materials.
The tool takes the designer through every step of the design process. From gathering requirements to setting up a grid; from adding parts and creating several versions of a design, to simulating its use and exporting a list of necessary materials.
Each tab of the tool allows you to dive deeper, allowing you to set up a Grid in detail. The tool itself, and numerous interactions, were designed and prototyped extensively using Figma to help explain its intended behaviour to AutoStore’s development team.
Each tab of the tool allows you to dive deeper, allowing you to set up a Grid in detail. The tool itself, and numerous interactions, were designed and prototyped extensively using Figma to help explain its intended behaviour to AutoStore’s development team.
A design system built for consistency
The updated tools will be implemented by AutoStore's in-house development team so we equipped them with a Figma design system. The design system consists of colours, typography, user interface components and an extensive set of icons that they can use in other AutoStore projects in the future, assuring consistency across the company's digital products.
Throughout the project, we applied an iterative and collaborative design process. We met weekly with the highly involved AutoStore team and created prototypes early on, which served as the foundation of our work and conversations. This allowed us to push the envelope of AutoStore's next-generation design tools.
Quote Bente Bakke or Jonas Jakobsen
Credits
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