The renewed Agilon: built to scale further and move faster

Shorter journeys inside Agilon

In the previous architecture, robots transported boxes all the way from the access point to their storage location.

The renewed architecture introduces conveyors into this internal material flow. Boxes entering storage are transported directly to the right level and closer to their final storage position. This substantially reduces the distance the robots need to travel.

And the larger the system becomes, the greater the benefit. 

In a large Agilon, the distance travelled by boxes inside the system is reduced to a fraction of what it was before,” explains Juho Kuisma, Manager, Agilon Technology at Konecranes.

This architectural change also allows many more robots to operate within the system. While the previous design supported a maximum of four robots, the renewed Agilon supports up to 20.

The result is a much broader performance range and the possibility to build significantly larger and faster automated storage systems.

A more modular approach to warehouse automation

The development team compared and modelled several approaches before selecting the conveyor-based solution.

What emerged was more than a faster version of the existing product.

We succeeded in creating an even more modular product family as part of Agilon,” Kuisma says.

The selected technology and software provide a foundation that can also be adapted to other approaches. At the same time, the team found new ways to make the robots' movements faster and smoother.

Together, these developments open new speed ranges for both retrieving and storing boxes.

Greater scale opens new applications

Customers are likely to notice the renewed appearance first. Once the system starts operating, two other differences become apparent: its increased scale and faster picking.

Greater scale has implications beyond the system's physical size.

For Kuisma, this is one of the most significant changes in the renewal. The system can now reach sizes and speeds that were previously outside its range.

That expands the range of applications the solution can address and brings new types of operations within reach. Kuisma points to e-commerce intralogistics as one example of a new application for Agilon.

The broader application potential builds on the role Agilon already plays in production, distribution, and maintenance operations, combining automated storage with inventory visibility and connected material flow.

Designed, simulated, and tested for real operations

The architecture was thoroughly designed and simulated, with real-world testing forming an important part of the development process.

Over the past year, the system has been tested and further developed in the Agilon R&D facilities in Tampere, Finland.

The renewed Agilon is now ready for the market,” Kuisma says.

Higher throughput is an important part of the renewal. The new architecture takes the development further: shorter transport distances, up to 20 robots, and a more modular product family allow Agilon to move to a completely new scale of small-parts warehouse automation.

Find the right flow for your operation

Every operation has different material flow requirements. Explore Agilon layouts and operating models with the Agilon Configurator and see what fits your operation.