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Let the goods come to the picker, not the other way round

In picking small items, the operator spends the day walking: most of the shift adds no value, it only covers ground. The miniload turns that round. It brings the tote to a station where the person stands still and picks only what the order asks for. STOKA designs, imports, installs, integrates and supports these systems, and we always start with the process: layout and location slotting first, automation only if order volume justifies it.

Tell us your problem

Why does picking small orders take so much time?

Because the time goes into walking. With thousands of stock keeping units (SKUs) spread across racking, the operator covers metres to gather three or four lines, and that walking adds nothing. A warehouse operator costs the company USD 965 a month, USD 11,580 a year (CCT 40/89 logistics branch, June 2026).

What is a miniload, or carton stacker crane?

In plain terms: it is the same principle as the pallet stacker crane, but for the small load unit. A crane travels inside a narrow aisle, between two racking runs, lifts to the location and takes out a carton, a tray or a plastic tote rather than a full pallet. It then carries it to a picking station where the operator is waiting, who takes the units on the order and sends the tote back into the system. That is where the name comes from: miniload is what the market calls the small version of the stacker crane. Nobody walks into the aisle and nobody walks around searching: the goods arrive on their own. The system is completed by the racking that houses it, the conveyors linking aisle and stations, and the warehouse management system (WMS) software that decides which tote to bring, in what order and for which customer order. For the large load unit, the full pallet, the equivalent is the pallet stacker crane.

Goods to the picker: what actually changes

In conventional picking, the person walks the warehouse with a trolley and a list. Study where the time goes and the split always looks the same: most of it is travel, some of it is searching and confirming, and only a small fraction is actually taking the product.

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The miniload deletes the travel. The operator works standing at a fixed station, with the tote arriving at hand height and a screen showing what to take and how many. No more back and forth, no more climbing a ladder, no more walking to the wrong location. The side effect is accuracy: with the system deciding which tote arrives and a record attached to every movement, inventory accuracy stops depending on someone writing it down correctly. A fixed station is also a workplace you can light, heat and set at the right height for the person, which an aisle seven metres tall never is.

How it differs from the pallet stacker crane

It is the same idea at another scale, and the differences matter when deciding. The aisle is narrower, because the load is a tote rather than a pallet, so more aisles fit on the same floor.

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The load unit is smaller, so many more levels fit in the same height: where the pallet system puts one location, the carton system puts several. The result is a number of positions per square metre no pallet system reaches, with density running up to 3x on the design criterion we use. And the cycle is built for something else: the pallet system moves full units between goods-in, storage and dispatch; the carton system works feeding picking stations, in sequences built order by order. That is why one is chosen by looking at stored volume and the other by looking at order volume.

Where it shines: many SKUs, orders of few lines

The ideal profile is easy to recognise: thousands of different SKUs, orders of a few lines each and a steady flow across the whole shift. E-commerce is the textbook case, with one- or two-line orders and a range that keeps growing.

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Spare parts are another: enormous catalogues, small pieces, demand that is unpredictable per SKU and a delivery promise measured in hours. Pharmaceuticals add traceability by batch and expiry date, access control and environmental conditions, three things a closed system handles better than an open aisle. Kitting, hospital supplies, cosmetics and consumer electronics fit just as well. It also suits operations where the same SKU has to be picked in different quantities all day long, and where the range changes faster than any shelf layout can follow. The common denominator is not the sector but the shape of the order: wide variety, small quantity per line and a short dispatch window.

No load unit and no software means no system

Two requirements are not negotiable. The first is a genuinely standardised load unit: a carton or plastic tote of fixed dimensions, with the goods inside and nothing sticking out.

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It is not enough that most of them fit; the system works to one geometry, and what does not fit does not fit. If goods arrive today in each supplier packaging, there is a re-packing step that forms part of the project and has to be budgeted. The second is the warehouse management system (WMS): without it, the machine does not know what to bring or in what sequence, because the efficiency does not live in the speed of the crane but in the sequence of the orders. Grouping orders that share SKUs, staging the next tote while the operator works on the current one and slotting fast movers near the station are software decisions, not machine decisions. If you do not run a WMS, it belongs in the scope.

What decides whether a miniload is the answer?

We do not publish model-by-model specification tables: the detailed sheet comes with the assessment, sized against your operation. These are the criteria the choice is made on.

Number of SKUs against quantity per line
Many different SKUs with few units per line push towards a miniload. Few SKUs with high volume each are better solved on full pallets, and there the small load system is an investment in the wrong place.
Order volume per shift
This is the figure that carries the investment. A system dimensioned for a peak that happens twice a year sits idle the rest of the time; measure lines per hour on a normal day and on your worst day too.
A standardised load unit
Carton or tote of fixed dimensions, with weight and contents inside range. If goods arrive in each supplier packaging, re-packing is part of the project and has to be counted in the arithmetic.
Warehouse management software
A WMS that sequences orders, assigns locations and builds picking waves. Without that layer the machine moves but the operation does not improve. If you do not have one, the integration belongs in the project scope.
Clear height and layout stability
Automated systems work between 7 and 40 metres and the racking is part of the machine. The operation should have a reasonable horizon in the same building before the structure is fixed in place.

Engineering for your operation

When is a miniload the wrong answer?

Our approach

Three situations rule it out, and they are worth checking before asking for a quotation. The first is a short catalogue with high volume per SKU: if you move few things but many of each, the answer is the full pallet, not the tote. The second is goods that do not fit a standard container, by size, by shape or by weight: the system works to a fixed geometry, and whatever does not fit has to leave the circuit, which leaves you running two operations in parallel and the arithmetic collapses. The third is order volume: if daily movement is moderate, good slotting by pick frequency, zone routes and batch picking solve the same problem for a fraction of the cost. And there is one more, the most common of all: if orders go out wrong because the item master is a mess or because system stock does not match the floor, that is process. Automating it makes it faster, not more correct.

Frequently asked questions

How many lines an hour does a station pick?

We do not publish loose performance figures, because out of context they lead to bad sizing. It depends on the number of aisles, how the stations are built, the profile of the orders and the quality of the sequence the software builds. The sizing is calculated on your own operation and delivered in the technical sheet of the diagnosis.

Does it replace the whole picking team?

No. It changes the work: instead of walking, the person picks units at a fixed station, and one person handles a much larger flow. Headcount is re-sized with survey data. As a reference, a warehouse operator costs the company USD 965 a month, with social charges representing 34.6% of labour cost (IARAF, February 2026).

Can I start with one aisle and grow later?

Yes, and it is usually the sensible way in. The architecture is dimensioned from the start for the number of aisles and stations you expect to need, and then installed in phases. What does not work is sizing the structure for today and discovering in two years that there is nowhere to grow.

Do I absolutely need my own WMS?

You need a warehouse management layer, whether that is the WMS you already run integrated with the system, or one that comes into the project scope. Without it the equipment does not know which tote to bring or in what order. Installation takes 3 to 4 months from the purchase order, and the integration with your own systems is planned inside that same schedule.

Other systems

Before buying a miniload, look at the orders

The survey measures SKUs, lines per order, seasonality and the real load unit. With that we deliver layout, technical sheet and quotation. And if better slotting is enough, we will say so.