Delivering unmatched transparency for AutoStore planning and expansion
Kardex Solutions has announced the launch of the newly enhanced StoreX Calculator in partnership with iAutomate. This significant evolution of the StoreX digital planning tool sets a new benchmark for transparency, performance insight, and lifecycle planning in the ASRS market. The newly launched StoreX Calculator builds on the original StoreX Calculator with iAutomate by extending its capabilities from initial system design into long-term optimization and expansion, addressing one of the most common realities in warehouse automation: growth that outpaces original expectations. Kardex’s StoreX Calculator digital planning tool is designed to help users evaluate, plan, and justify new system integration, as well as existing system expansions using real operational data.
While many automation solutions are treated as fixed installations, Kardex approaches AutoStore as a continuously evolving system. AutoStore systems are inherently modular, and industry experience shows that a significant percentage of customers expand their systems within 12 to 36 months. Expansion is often driven by faster-than-expected throughput growth, SKU proliferation, the addition of new fulfillment channels such as e-commerce and store replenishment, or the consolidation of logistics networks into high-density nodes.
The StoreX Calculator is designed specifically to bring clarity and precision to both initial system build, as well as system expansion planning that is unmatched in the ASRS space. The enhanced tool allows operators to model multiple growth scenarios and understand how changes to grid size, robot count, ports, and supporting infrastructure impact system footprint, project timelines, and overall investment. Outputs include clear, structured reports that estimate expansion costs, implementation speed, and execution phases—helping teams align internally and build financially sound business cases.
“AutoStore systems are not static assets—they’re designed to evolve as businesses grow,” said Fred Fox Jr., President of Kardex Solutions Americas. “With the newly enhanced StoreX Calculator, Kardex is giving customers the same level of data-driven clarity for expansion decisions that they expect when designing a new system. It removes uncertainty around cost and timing, enabling smarter planning and faster, lower-risk scaling, and reflects our commitment to continuously evolving our solutions so customers can extract maximum performance, throughput, and value over the life of their system.”
A defining strength of Kardex’s StoreX Calculator is its focus on radical transparency. Historically, AutoStore expansion planning has often relied on high-level estimates and limited visibility into cost and timing. StoreX replaces that ambiguity with scenario-based modeling that reflects real operational inputs, clearly distinguishing between overall project duration and on-site implementation windows, and showing how expansions can be executed while keeping operations largely live.
“Kardex and iAutomate share a common goal: helping customers make informed decisions based on data, not guesswork,” said Christoph Buchmann, Founder and Managing Director of iAutomate. “The new functionality of StoreX gives AutoStore users unprecedented visibility into how their systems can scale—what it will take, how long it will take, and what value it will deliver. That level of insight is a game changer for how businesses plan automation growth long-term.”
The launch of the enhanced StoreX Calculator underscores a broader industry shift toward brownfield optimization and incremental automation, as companies look to maximize existing assets rather than pursue costly greenfield projects. By combining expansion modeling, comparative scenario analysis, and executive-ready reporting, the Kardex StoreX Calculator supports this shift with practical, data-backed insight.
The tool reinforces Kardex’s role as a trusted, long-term AutoStore partner, supporting customers from initial concept through ongoing optimization, expansion, and performance enhancement.
