Singapore Storage and Warehouse Receive World's Tallest Robotic Forklifts

The challenge for the SSW autonomous forklift project was the height. There were no past references from any robotics company engineered at such height.

BALYO, a technological leader in the design and development of innovative robotic solutions for material handling trucks, announces the successful installation and hand over of world’s tallest autonomous VNAs at Singapore Storage and Warehouse (SSW), located in Singapore.

With a lift height of 16.8m (55’ 1”), this is the first site in the world that is operating autonomously at such height using VNA robots. This innovation is further testimony to BALYO’s technological prowess and capabilities.

Since its beginning in 1987, Singapore Storage & Warehouse has been the preferred logistics service provider to its wide base of customers and stakeholders in Singapore. The company has an established track record of helping customers successfully manage their inventory and logistics operations under normal business conditions and stepping up to support business partners during exceptional times, including emergencies.

With the company striving for innovation, SSW wanted to convert manually operated VNA in their Singapore site to autonomous robots. The main challenge in this site was height, not throughput. A 16m+ pick/drop of pallets autonomously was previously unheard of. Linde Material Handling Singapore, along with BALYO, implemented its new "Very Narrow Aisle (VNA)" autonomous model with full reliability and safety.

Thanks to BALYO’s innovative approach to safety, standard OEM forklift controls, and smart perception of pallets, reaching new heights is now possible. After a few weeks of tests in 2021 and a commissioning lead-time of 2 months, BALYO successfully ramped up and handed over four autonomous VNAs to SSW. These robots handle pallets up to 750kg at a maximum pick and drop height of 16.8m.

This capability is unique in the world today. Warehouse and Supply Chain Managers around the globe can now consider autonomous VNA at heights that were earlier not possible. This opens a new applicative segment to BALYO, its partners, and clients which were until now constrained to manual operations or less flexible fully automated warehouses (ASRS).

Singapore Storage and Warehouse Current MHE Methods

With the space constraints and the tight labor market, as in Singapore, UK, and Japan, there are significant warehouses operating at such heights. Managers can now engage the conversion to autonomy thanks to this technological milestone.

Ong Swee Keong, CEO of SSW, commented: "We are very happy to be partnering with BALYO & Linde for this automation project. The productivity gains have been impressive, and I am glad that the dedication and hard work put in by everyone in SSW, Linde, BALYO and our partners for this project has paid off. As SSW continues to transform and grow, we look forward to achieving even more business success with our reliable partners".

Pascal Rialland, CEO and Chairman of BALYO, commented: "This project shows the tremendous superiority of Linde-BALYO’s technology on the high-bay storage and VNA applications. Singapore has been the perfect hub to launch applications at extreme heights due to space scarcity and customer engagement toward robotics. We will pursue our commitment to engage further with Linde and their teams to expand this success at further SSW sites and other warehouses around the globe".