UK Operations Leaders are Navigating a New Era of Challenges.
Rising wages now set the stage with the National Living Wage set at £12.21/hour in April 2025. Meanwhile, open roles stay persistently unfilled across logistics sectors, and the surge in online demand traces back to pandemic-driven behavioural shifts that haven’t reverted. In July 2025, online sales accounted for nearly 27.8% of retail transactions—a signal that meeting fulfilment promises remains a non-negotiable priority despite stretched teams.
Gone are the days when hiring more people was the definitive answer. The call of 2026 favours labour productivity metrics like predictable throughput per labour hour.
Enter warehouse automation—specifically Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (ASRS), like cube-based goods-to-person models. It’s here that UK firms find their solution: better storage density, reduced walking times, fewer inventory touches, and steady service levels.
But technology alone isn’t magic; what delivers value is measuring its performance properly. We’ll explore a data-first approach to baseline, optimise, and justify ASRS gains in combination with Deposco’s Supply Chain Intelligence (SCI).
ASRS 101: Why It’s on Every UK Roadmap
ASRS, or Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems, revolutionise warehouse operations by automating inventory retrieval and storage tasks, enhancing efficiency, and maximising space utilisation.
- What it is: Imagine goods-to-person automation—densifying warehouse storage and delivering inventory to ergonomic pick stations to reduce worker travel and improve pick speeds.
- Why it fits mid-market: ASRS can multiply storage up to ~4× within the existing footprint, enabling firms to delay costly site-scale expansions. Autumn’s rising peak volumes will likely test fulfilment systems; ASRS helps prepare. Remember, “up to 4×” is an aspirational ceiling—it’s better to model explicitly for your SKU mix.
- Labour market backdrop: High labour costs, expected wage increases, and persistent shortages compel companies to focus on unit-cost predictability and cycle-time reliability over expansive staffing. Early August 2025 saw 17% of UK businesses with 10+ employees reporting worker shortages—a trend impacting scalability without automation.
ASRS offers a scalable solution for mid-market firms to optimise fulfilment processes while navigating the rising pressures of labour costs and operational demands.
What Your WMS Must Measure First: Defining Pure Operational KPIs
Deposco’s Supply Chain Intelligence allows mid-market firms to focus their measurement lens on metrics that are directly actionable. Begin with the operational KPIs below, which provide not only the benchmark but also actionable insights:
- Cost per Order (CPO): Labour + indirect costs + Mobile Handling Equipment (MHE) operational expenditure divided by shipped units.
- Throughput per labour hour: Lines picked per hour per full-time equivalent (FTE).
- Order cycle time: The window from receipt to ship, including dock-to-stock duration.
- Order-picking accuracy: Accuracy percentage per order—target performance above 99.7%.
Modern WMS systems like Deposco use benchmarks like these to align departments (Operations and Finance) on clear, standardised calculation methods, such as adopting WERC taxonomy for consistency across stakeholder touchpoints.
Learn how extending WERC’s foundation with real-time intelligence improves strategic decision-making.
Forecasting Improvement Bands: Cautious Assumptions to High Gains
Mid-market firms transitioning from manual handling to automation are advised to take a long, hard look at the underlying capabilities of their WMS – then apply conservative parameters to their ASRS planning.
Use these directional metrics while you validate against your operation’s baseline. This is not to say that the high end can’t be achieved but most organisations need time to ramp and gain operational muscle memory:
- Picking productivity: Anticipate improvements of 50–100% versus research suggesting up to ~200%.
- Order cycle time: Look for a reduction of 20–30%, while studies aiming for up to 50% remain aspirational for aggressive implementations.
- Labour efficiency: Plan reductions between 15–30% in costs for the same fulfilment volume.
- Picking accuracy: Target no less than 99.7%, with pathways to the world-class standard of ~99.9%.
How do these translate financially?
The formula for new Cost per Order (CPO) involves careful modelling of direct labour hours, wage rates (£12.21/hour), indirect costs, and MHE outlays across shipped units. Consider this scenario:
150 units per hour * 1.15 = ~173 units
150 units / hour = 8.14p / unit
173 units / hour = 7.1p / unit
That’s only considering the direct labour costs. The gap between today’s rate and tomorrow’s widens when considering the fully loaded costs. Only a modern supply chain execution platform with AI-powered commerce intelligence can help you commit to tracking these weekly for strong trend visibility.
Tracking + Proving ROI: An Iterative, Continuous Habit
Deposco’s SCI applications provide not just the tools for baselining and stabilising but the framework for optimising warehouse automation consistently over quarters.
- Baseline (30 days pre-implementation): Record core metrics—CPO, throughput per labour hour, cycle time, accuracy, overtime hours, temporary staffing costs, returns related to mis-picks, and capacity utilisation. Use segmentation by peaks and fulfilment channels to uncover patterns.
- Stabilise (first 90 days post-go-live): Weekly SCI visual insights allow fine-tuning adjustments like staffing levels at pick ports, zoning inventory bins, and calibrating replenishment rhythms.
- Optimise (quarterly): Combine Operations and Finance insights into a compact supply chain KPI pack. Commentary around metrics like throughput, cycle times, and accuracy help teams tune processes before seasonal pressures ramp up.
The value of ROI isn’t just talk—real results are achievable, but how you execute your plan will determine the impact. You can realise the benefits in just a few months, not years, emphasising the importance of careful and structured implementation rather than rushing the process.
Make Improvement Continuous
ASRS may be the workhorse of the future that drives fulfilment efficiency for UK firms, but Deposco SCI is the analytical lens through which the improvement journey comes alive. Identifying opportunities in real time and notifying Operations leaders where their next improvement can be found will ensure progress is measured and automation pays dividends for years to come.
For the price of large, capital-expenditure automation projects, wouldn’t you like the peace of mind that the ROI will not just be realized, or sustained, but grown over time?