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Logistics Automation
At Excel, we believe that operational excellence and environmental responsibility go hand in hand. That’s why we’ve invested in advanced logistics automation at our Birmingham headquarters – transforming the way we store, pick and dispatch products, while significantly reducing our environmental footprint.
Automated Efficiency at Our Birmingham HQ

At our Birmingham HQ warehouse, a substantial volume of Excel products is now stored and dispatched using Autostore, a highly efficient automated storage and retrieval system. The installation includes 14 ‘Maybot’ robots, working continuously to collect customer orders with exceptional speed and accuracy. 

Unlike traditional warehouse systems, Autostore operates within a compact, goods‑to‑person environment, dramatically reducing the amount of energy required to move products through the warehouse. As a result, the system is far more energy efficient than our previous leanlift solution, delivering a significant reduction in power consumption while increasing operational performance. 

Reducing Energy Use Through Automation

Logistics automation plays a key role in our wider environmental strategy. By replacing more energy‑intensive manual handling processes with low‑energy robotics, Autostore enables us to:

Lower overall warehouse energy consumption
Reduce mechanical movement and wasted energy
Improve storage density, minimising the warehouse footprint
Maintain high throughput with lower environmental impact

The robots only consume power when required and operate with exceptional efficiency, ensuring we use less energy per order processed. This helps us deliver the service levels our customers expect, whilst supporting our long‑term carbon reduction goals. 

Fewer Consignments, Smarter Packaging

Automation also enables us to consolidate orders more effectively. By joining multiple order lines into fewer consignments, we reduce the number of deliveries leaving our warehouse – cutting transport emissions and reducing congestion across the supply chain.

In addition, our automated processes allow us to select the smallest possible outer box for each order, helping to minimise packaging materials and reduce the need for void fill. This approach supports our wider packaging reduction initiatives and further lowers the environmental impact of each delivery. 

Delivering Better for Customers – and the Planet

Our investment in logistics automation isn’t just about efficiency; it’s about delivering measurable benefits to our customers and the environment.  By continually improving the way we operate behind the scenes, we’re able to help our customers meet their own sustainability objectives – without compromising on service, reliability or performance

Faster, more accurate order fulfilment
Reduced energy consumption per dispatched order
Fewer deliveries and lower transport emissions
Less packaging waste and smarter box selection
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