IN Brief:
- AutoStore goods-to-person systems will be installed at Würth’s Yatala and Keysborough distribution facilities.
- Automated and manual picking areas will feed common packing, labelling and despatch processes.
- Yatala is scheduled for August 2027 operation, with the larger Keysborough system following in December.
Würth Australia is automating order fulfilment at its Yatala distribution centre in Queensland and Keysborough facility in Victoria through a two-site project with Dematic, combining AutoStore goods-to-person technology with manual picking and automated downstream order handling.
The project is intended to support a product range that the announcement puts at more than 22,000 items serving over 56,000 active customers across automotive, transport, earthworks, fabrication, maintenance, repair and operations, construction and mining.
That breadth creates markedly different handling requirements inside the same distribution network. Small fasteners and consumables are well suited to dense automated storage, while larger or irregular products may be more efficiently handled through conventional picking areas rather than being forced into the same automation format.
Dematic’s design therefore combines AutoStore with dedicated manual zones. Robots within the AutoStore system will retrieve inventory bins and present them to operators at goods-to-person stations, supporting both split-case and full-case picking for products suited to the automated grid.
Orders from automated and manual areas will then enter common downstream processes. The planned system includes conveyor transport, document insertion, carton optimisation and sealing, labelling and despatch sortation, bringing different picking methods back into a shared order-completion flow.
Dematic’s Warehouse Control System will integrate with Würth’s warehouse management system to coordinate tasks and equipment movement. That software interface is central to the project because an order may contain lines drawn from more than one handling area, requiring the warehouse to synchronise picking and consolidation before packing.
Industrial distribution produces precisely that combination of high SKU count and mixed order profiles. A maintenance customer may require several small consumables together with larger tools or workshop equipment, while another order may consist almost entirely of fast-moving small parts. The warehouse has to select the appropriate handling method without fragmenting the customer order.
Goods-to-person automation can reduce walking and concentrate repetitive small-parts picking at fixed workstations, but it does not remove the need for disciplined replenishment and inventory control. The automated grid has to contain the correct stock, manual inventory has to remain synchronised with the warehouse system, and split orders must reach consolidation in time to meet common despatch cut-offs.
Downstream capacity is equally important. Increasing the rate at which products reach operators can simply move congestion towards packing, sealing, labelling or sortation if those processes are not designed around the higher picking output. Würth’s inclusion of those functions within the wider automation project reduces the risk of treating AutoStore throughput as an isolated measure of warehouse performance.
The two sites will not start simultaneously. Yatala is scheduled to become operational in August 2027, with the larger Keysborough installation following in December. The gap gives Würth and Dematic an opportunity to apply commissioning experience from the first site before the second operation enters service.
Würth currently operates three strategically located Australian distribution centres, with the project concentrating automation investment on Queensland and Victoria. A common systems approach across two major facilities can simplify training, controls support and performance measurement while allowing each installation to be sized for its local volume and layout.
Standardisation also creates a clearer path for future process changes. If software, workstations and downstream handling follow similar principles at both locations, operational improvements developed at one site can be transferred more readily to the other than they could between unrelated automation platforms.
The implementation period remains substantial. Automated storage, conveyors, controls and warehouse software have to be installed and tested while inventory data, replenishment rules and operating procedures are prepared for live use. Staff training and ramp-up will determine whether the technical capacity translates into reliable daily fulfilment.
Würth’s Australian operation already distributes a broad range of fastening, assembly, workshop and industrial products from a national warehouse network. The Dematic project is designed to increase the amount of that flow handled through goods-to-person automation without eliminating the manual processes still required by products that do not fit the automated system.
The more useful performance measures after commissioning will therefore extend beyond robot speed. Order accuracy, end-to-end processing time, inventory availability, packing capacity and despatch reliability will show whether the combined automated and manual design improves the distribution operation as a whole.
Yatala will provide the first live test in August 2027. Keysborough follows four months later, turning the programme from a single warehouse installation into a two-site automation platform across Würth Australia’s national distribution network.
