Define the problem first
- Labour: do you struggle to staff shifts or find extra people for peaks?
- Space: is the building full, or is its height unused?
- Speed and cut-off: are orders missing their cut-off times?
- Accuracy: are picking and shipping errors costing customers?
- Safety and ergonomics: are there risks from heavy loads, height or cold environments?
Your answers determine which technology to look at. If your processes and data are not disciplined enough, automation can magnify the problem; measure the foundations first with the operational diagnostic and the AI readiness check.
Technologies and where they fit
| Technology | What it does | Typically fits when | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conveyors and sorters | Moves cartons between stations and sorts them by destination. | High, steady carton flow and many dispatch destinations. | Fixes the layout; limits with irregular item sizes. |
| Pallet AS/RS | Stores and retrieves pallets automatically in high racking. | Tall buildings, many pallets, limited space, cold storage. | High upfront investment; building and floor requirements. |
| Mini-load / shuttle | Stores totes and cartons densely and delivers them to stations. | Many small parts, piece picking, goods-to-person. | Capacity must be designed for peak volume. |
| AMR / AGV | Autonomous or guided vehicles carrying racks, totes or pallets. | Operations with uncertain growth, leased buildings, phased investment. | Fleet management, floor and Wi-Fi quality; safety in shared spaces. |
| Pick-to-light / put-to-light | Lights show which location and how many to pick or put. | Fast movers in fixed locations; sorting walls. | Needs rework when the layout changes. |
| Voice picking | Gives instructions and takes confirmations by voice; hands stay free. | Cold stores, heavy items, gloved work. | Test Turkish speech recognition in the real environment. |
WMS and WCS: who manages what?
The WMS manages stock, orders and tasks; the warehouse control system (WCS) or equipment software manages the real-time movement of machines. In automation projects, many problems come from the interface between the two: task sequencing, errors and exceptions, equipment under maintenance and manual interventions.
- Has your WMS vendor done a live integration with this automation supplier before?
- When equipment fails, how are orders moved to a manual flow?
- Who owns the interface: the WMS vendor or the automation supplier? Who is responsible when something goes wrong?
Calculate payback with your own data
There is no single “industry average” payback for automation; results vary widely with wage levels, number of shifts, volume and how fully the equipment is used. Simple payback is calculated as follows:
Payback (years) = Total investment ÷ (Annual savings − Annual maintenance and running costs)
| Item | Example input | Calculation |
|---|---|---|
| Total investment (equipment, software, integration, building works) | 20.000.000 ₺ | — |
| Labour reduction (people × annual employer cost) | 8 people × TRY 600,000 | 4.800.000 ₺ |
| Error and space savings (annual) | 700.000 ₺ | 700.000 ₺ |
| Annual maintenance and running costs | 1.000.000 ₺ | −1.000.000 ₺ |
| Net annual savings | 4.500.000 ₺ | |
| Simple payback | 20,000,000 ÷ 4,500,000 ≈ 4.4 years |
- Do not assume full utilisation from day one; allow for commissioning and ramp-up.
- Consider equipment life, spare parts and service availability, and currency risk for imported equipment.
- Check how the result changes if volume comes in 20–30% lower or higher (sensitivity analysis).
- You can model two scenarios side by side with your own figures in the ROI / TCO calculator.
Reducing the risks
- Base the design on at least a year of order and stock data including peaks, not a single day.
- Avoid launching a new building, new automation and new software at the same time; plan in phases (see the failure cases).
- Write capacity, availability and error-rate targets into the acceptance test.
- Ask the automation supplier for references of similar scale that are serviced in Turkey.
Directory solutions whose sources mention automation or AS/RS integration
- Blue Yonder (formerly JDA) — WMS
- Dematic (software + automation)
- Infor — WMS
- Körber Supply Chain — WMS
- Manhattan Associates
- Mantis (LV3)
- Mecalux — Easy WMS
- Oracle (Fusion / SCM warehouse)
- SAP (EWM / warehouse management)
- SSI Schaefer — WAMAS / automation
The list is alphabetical and based on whether each solution's own sources mention automation or AS/RS integration; it is not a ranking or recommendation. Checked: 2026-09-18.
Method and corrections: editorial policy.