Smart Order Throttling: How Warehouses Get Faster, Smarter, and More Predictable

KPI Solutions’ Opto™ WES Optimizes Your AutoStore Investment

Warehouses are increasingly facing accelerated SKU proliferation, volatile demand, labor shortages, and rising customer expectations. Automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS) such as AutoStore address many of these challenges, but to maximize their benefits, operations require intelligent software that releases work into the system at optimal times.

Smart Order Throttling, a feature of KPI Solutions’ Opto AS platform, ensures AutoStore processes the right orders at the right time without overloading the system or delaying high-priority shipments.

This is especially important in environments with tight shipping windows, same-day service levels, or distribution centers processing thousands of orders a day.

Why Order Throttling Matters in an Automated System

AutoStore retrieves inventory quickly, but it has capacity limits. Only a limited number of bins can be staged near the top of the grid, making this space valuable. If low-priority orders occupy these positions, urgent orders may be delayed.

Smart Order Throttling prevents this problem by controlling:

• How many orders AutoStore should prepare at one time
• Which orders (and bins) get priority
• Which bins should be pre-positioned for later
• How to keep space available for last-minute, high-priority work

Instead of releasing all orders at once, the software strategically and continuously releases them to meet demand without overloading the grid.

The Role of Prepared and Forecasted Bins

AutoStore uses two powerful bin states that Smart Order Throttling leverages:

Prepared Bins: Prepared bins are those AutoStore expects to retrieve soon for active orders. They are positioned at the top of the grid for quick access.

Forecasted Bins: Forecasted bins are those AutoStore anticipates needing soon, based on upcoming orders, but not immediately. These bins are positioned within four levels of the surface to reduce future retrieval times.

If Prepared bins are the items already on the kitchen counter for a recipe, Forecasted bins are the ingredients you’ve pulled from the pantry and placed nearby. You’re not using them yet, but they’re staged and ready.

The ability to stage inventory in advance contributes to AutoStore’s efficiency, and Smart Order Throttling further optimizes this process.

How Smart Order Throttling Decides What to Do Next

Each AutoStore grid can maintain only a limited number of bins in the Prepared state. Smart Order Throttling manages this using three main parameters:

• Preparation Capacity: The total number of bins AutoStore can maintain in Prepared status, typically 60% of grid stacks.
• Percent of Prepared Capacity: The operating limit reserves capacity for high-priority orders, such as running at 90-95 percent instead of 100 percent.
• Pick List Release Interval: How often Opto AS reevaluates orders and releases more work (e.g., every 10 minutes)

Opto AS uses the Order-to-Pack Date/Time and Priority assigned by the WMS to sort all incoming orders from oldest to newest. It prepares as many bins as capacity allows and marks the rest as Forecasted. As workers pick orders and bins are consumed, new orders are promoted into Prepared status at each release interval.

This creates a smooth, continuous flow of work through the system, rather than surges and stalls.

Why Not Just Prepare All Bins Immediately?

At first glance, it might seem simpler to send every order directly to AutoStore and let it prepare everything. But that approach creates two serious problems:

1. High-priority orders get stuck behind older ones

If the Prepared capacity is full, new urgent orders can’t jump ahead. They must wait until space frees up, which can delay shipping windows, especially in fast-paced operations.

2. Deep digging becomes unavoidable

If orders are not forecasted in advance, their bins may remain deep in the grid, resulting in slower retrieval times when the order becomes urgent.

Smart Order Throttling avoids both issues by keeping top-level space always available while still surfacing the bins needed for future work.

A Smarter, More Predictable AutoStore

The beauty of Smart Order Throttling is that it makes AutoStore behave more like a living, learning system. This leads to several operational benefits:

• More predictable cycle times
• Faster response to high-priority orders
• Reduced digging and robot travel time
• Higher throughput without adding robots
• Smoother waves and less queue congestion
• Better performance during demand spikes

The result is an AutoStore system that stays balanced, responsive, and efficient all day long, even when demand is unpredictable.

Final Thoughts

Automation helps warehouses operate faster, but intelligence helps them operate smarter. Smart Order Throttling gives AutoStore the strategic foresight it needs to keep orders flowing smoothly, prioritize what matters most, and reduce wasted motion inside the grid.

For organizations facing high volumes, tight service levels, or seasonal demand swings, Smart Order Throttling is a competitive advantage. Contact us today if this solution sounds right for your needs.