The core storage types in a stereoscopic warehouse: Aligning with automation and scalability needs

I. Classified by Cargo Packaging / Form: "Standardized" Goods Suitable for Automated Equipment

1. Palletized Unit Load (the most common type)

• Product Features : Individual items are relatively heavy (typically ranging from 50 kg to 5 tons) and bulky, requiring palletization—whether with wooden, plastic, or metal pallets—to consolidate them into "unitized loads" (with each pallet serving as a single storage unit), facilitating easy access by equipment such as stackers and forklifts.
• Adaptation Reason After palletization, product specifications become standardized (e.g., the common pallet size of 1200mm × 1000mm). This allows stackers to achieve precise storage and retrieval by "locating the pallet," eliminating the need to handle each individual item separately. It’s ideal for bulk storage and efficient material handling.
• Typical Cargo Cases ：
  • Manufacturing: Automotive components (engines, tires, chassis), home appliances (refrigerators, washing machines, outdoor air conditioning units), mechanical parts (motors, gearboxes);
  • Retail and Distribution: Fast-moving consumer goods in full cases (mineral water, beverages, instant noodle trays), building materials (tiles, panels), and chemical raw materials (barrel-packed paints, bagged cement).
• Adapting to Warehouse Types : Pallet-type automated stereoscopic warehouse (shelf height 10–40 meters, single storage location capacity 500 kg–5 tons).

2. Palletized/Cartonized Unitized Cargo (primarily small to medium-sized items)

• Product Features : Individual items are lightweight (typically 0.5 kg to 50 kg) and relatively small in size, requiring standard crates (plastic turnover boxes) or cardboard boxes to be consolidated into "crate units" (with one crate serving as a single storage unit). This setup is ideal for dense storage as well as order-picking of individual items.
• Adaptation Reason : Material bins come in standardized specifications (such as the common size 600mm × 400mm × 300mm), enabling dense storage solutions via "four-way shuttles and mini-stackers" (with bin spacing tailored precisely to the bin dimensions). These systems can also seamlessly integrate with "goods-to-person" picking systems, significantly boosting the efficiency of handling small- to medium-sized items.
• Typical Cargo Cases ：
  • 3C Electronics: Mobile phone accessories (chargers, headphones), electronic components (resistors, chips, circuit boards);
  • Retail e-commerce: Apparel (packed into collapsible crates), small personal care items (shampoo and skincare products in mini bottles), stationery (notebooks, writing instruments);
  • Pharmaceuticals: Pharmaceutical packaging boxes (traditional Chinese medicine, Western medicine preparations), medical devices (syringes, masks).
• Adapting to Warehouse Types : Pallet-type automated vertical warehouses (shelf height 5–15 meters, single storage location capacity 10 kg–50 kg), and mezzanine-style vertical warehouses (multi-level structure, integrated with AGV for pallet transport).

Automated Vertical Storage System

II. Categorized by Industry Scenarios: "Functional" Goods That Meet Specific Industry Needs

1. Manufacturing: Producing "productive goods" for supporting industries

• Raw materials : Steel coils from the automobile factory, wafers from the electronics plant, and castings from the machinery factory (mostly stored in palletized units and precisely dispatched according to the production schedule);
• Work-in-Progress : The car body frame during the assembly process, and semi-finished circuit boards from the electronics factory (which must be stored according to production procedures to avoid confusion);
• Finished product : Finished air conditioners from the home appliance factory, and finished mobile phones from the smartphone factory (stored in bulk, ready for outbound shipping and transportation, then swiftly delivered to distributors).
• Industry Cases : BYD's new-energy vehicle factory features a "battery three-dimensional warehouse," where automated equipment precisely delivers battery pallets to the production line, eliminating delays caused by manual handling and boosting production efficiency by 20%.

2. Pharmaceuticals/Food: "Sensitive Goods" Requiring Environmental Control

• Pharmaceutical Industry ：
  • Over-the-counter medications: Traditional Chinese medicines and Western medicine tablets (must be stored away from light and moisture; the automated warehouse is equipped with temperature and humidity sensors, with data uploaded in real time to the GMP system).
  • Cold-chain pharmaceuticals: vaccines and biological products (requiring a constant temperature of 2–8°C; the automated立体 warehouse is equipped with a refrigeration system, and the stacker cranes seamlessly integrate with the cold-chain channels to prevent temperature fluctuations).
  • Special medications: Narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances (require explosion-proof and anti-theft measures; the automated warehouse is equipped with explosion-proof shelving and fingerprint access control, and double-person review is mandatory for dispensing).
• Food Industry ：
  • Cold-chain foods: Frozen meat, ice cream (stored in a low-temperature, three-dimensional warehouse maintained below -18°C; shelves are made from cryogenically resistant materials, and equipment features sealed, frost-proof designs).
  • Room-temperature foods: Biscuits, snacks (must be protected from compression and moisture; stored in layered, bin-type vertical warehouses to prevent crushing at the bottom).
• Industry Cases GuoYao Group's "Vaccine Automated Stereoscopic Warehouse" uses RFID tags to link each box of vaccine, enabling full traceability across the "production - storage - outbound delivery" process. Temperature and humidity deviations are kept within ±0.5℃, fully meeting GSP certification requirements.

3. E-commerce / Retail: High-Frequency Turnover "Circulating Goods"

• E-commerce Mega Sale Goods "During the 'Double 11' and '618' shopping festivals, popular products (such as clothing, home appliances, and daily chemicals) are pre-stocked in bulk within a three-dimensional warehouse, enabling rapid outbound delivery via AGVs combined with sorting machines during peak promotional periods."
• Retail store restocking merchandise : Daily necessities from chain supermarkets (laundry detergent, paper towels) and fresh pre-cut vegetables are dispatched in batches according to store demands, with delivery coordinated via the TMS system.
• Breakdown of small-piece goods : Single items from e-commerce platforms—such as a single lipstick or a single book—are stored in box-type automated warehouses, enabling "direct shipment of individual items" through the use of "electronic tag picking."
• Industry Cases : JD.com's "E-commerce Stereoscopic Warehouse" at Asia No.1 stores over 100,000 SKUs of goods, processes 200,000 orders daily from a single warehouse, and achieves a picking efficiency of 300 items per person per hour—five times higher than that of traditional warehouses.

4. Chemicals / Hazardous Materials: "High-Risk Goods" Requiring Safety Protection

• Explosion-proof cargo : Paints, alcohol (ethanol), and thinner (requires an explosion-proof warehouse; shelves made of aluminum alloy, equipment designed without electrical sparks, and equipped with explosion-proof sensors);
• Corrosion-resistant cargo : Hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid (require an anti-corrosion warehouse; shelves made of stainless steel, and floors treated with an anti-corrosion coating to prevent leakage and corrosion);
• Toxic and Hazardous Cargo : Pesticides and disinfectants (must be stored in a sealed, three-dimensional warehouse equipped with a ventilation system; personnel must wear protective gear during handling, and strict registration is required for all outgoing shipments).
• Industry Alert : Such automated warehouses must obtain the national "Hazardous Materials Storage Qualification Certification," and their equipment and systems must comply with the "Code for Design of Electrical Installations in Hazardous Explosive Environments."

III. Types of Goods "Not Suitable" for Storage in Automated Warehouses (A Guide to Avoiding Pitfalls)

1. Extra-large / Extra-heavy and Non-Standardized Cargo : Such as large-scale machinery equipment (excavators, cranes) and extra-long pipe materials (steel pipes longer than 10 meters)—these cannot be efficiently integrated using standard pallets or containers, making automated access difficult and resulting in wasted storage space within the automated warehouse.
2. Irregularly shaped cargo : Such as bulk coal, sand and gravel, fabrics (without fixed packaging, easily scattered, unable to be stored in unitized form, and thus inaccessible for precise gripping by automated equipment);
3. Extremely low-turnover goods : Such as a company’s “historical archives and obsolete equipment” (which are issued from the warehouse no more than once a year on average, occupying high-cost storage spaces in the automated warehouse—making traditional, low-cost, flat-floor storage via leasing a better option);
4. Bulk cargo with extremely low unit prices : For crops like wheat and corn—when stored in a three-dimensional warehouse, the equipment investment cost far exceeds the value of the goods themselves, resulting in extremely low cost-effectiveness (making "silo" storage a more suitable option).

The "Core Adaptation Principle" for Storing Goods in Three-Dimensional Warehouses

1. Degree of standardization : Can pallets/bins be integrated into "unitized loads" (standardized specifications are essential for automated storage and retrieval)?
2. Turnover Frequency : Is "high-frequency inbound/outbound" necessary? (The efficiency advantage of a stereoscopic warehouse can only be fully realized through high turnover; low-frequency goods offer poor cost-effectiveness.)
3. Special Needs : Are "environmental control, precise traceability, and safety protection" necessary? (The customized capabilities of automated warehouses can meet these needs, making them difficult to replace with traditional warehouses.)