Beyond Green: Sustainability as a Business Driver

Sustainability is more than lip service, a PR exercise, or a compliance box to tick. Instead, it is a strategic lever for efficiency, growth, customer loyalty, and revenue.

“Sustainability is no longer a nice to have. It's an imperative”, says Kim Baudry, Global Market Development Director at Dematic. “Consumers, investors, and regulators are putting real pressure on companies to reduce their environmental impact.”

What’s more surprising than the shift itself are the forces behind it: capital-minded decision-makers focused on numbers and outcomes. “Beyond compliance, sustainability has become a strategic differentiator, a way to win customer trust and differentiate in the market”, says Kim Baudry.

A key enabler of more sustainable operations in supply chain management and intralogistics is automation. This is driven by four key factors:

• Resource Efficiency: Intelligent automation systems improve space utilization and minimize waste. By reducing the need for excess storage space, energy, and materials, they lower the overall resource footprint of warehouse operations.

• Loss Reduction: Automated picking and storage systems reduce product damage and shrink—critical in sectors like grocery, where perishables leave little margin for error. Fewer losses mean less waste, fewer returns, and a direct reduction in unnecessary production and transport.

• Brownfield Optimization: Automation enables the modernization of existing facilities. Retrofitting legacy sites increases storage density, throughput, and accuracy without expanding land use or material consumption—avoiding the environmental cost of new construction.

• Performance from Within: Automation unlocks capacity within existing footprints. Sustainability, in this sense, is not about doing less – but about generating more output from the same assets, reducing the need for additional infrastructure, energy, and resources.

In most cases, the decision to pursue such measures is not primarily driven by sustainability, but by the need for necessary modernization. “Many distribution centers, especially older legacy facilities, are struggling to meet the demands of modern commerce”, Kim Baudry says, adding: “Constructing entirely new facilities is costly and time consuming. The challenge is clear: How do we maximize efficiency and storage capacity within an existing footprint?”

AutoStoreTM from Dematic is a practical solution for many brownfield automation projects

The answer in most cases is intelligent Brownfield-Automation . Retrofitting existing facilities with cutting-edge technology solutions – such as automated storage and retrieval systems or robotic goods-to-person systems – is transforming legacy warehouses into high-density, high-performance hubs.

But sustainability in automation is not only about how systems are deployed. It also depends on how they are designed. Another shift gaining traction is the move from linear to circular design. Instead of the traditional “take, make, dispose” model, circularity rethinks how automation systems are built and operated, focusing on longevity, modularity, reuse, and transparency across the entire lifecycle.

A tangible example is the Dematic Multishuttle® 2, the material handling industry’s first shuttle-based AS/RS to be Cradle-to-Cradle Bronze certified . Here, circular principles are embedded into product design, material health, climate impact, and social responsibility – backed by a level of transparency that relies on primary supplier data to validate material composition and environmental impact.

Sustainable performance does not end at go-live — it is sustained through how systems are managed, optimized, and evolved over time. Key levers include:

• Software Intelligence: End-to-end transparency reduces waste, avoids inefficiencies, and optimizes resource use in real time.

• Lifecycle Optimization: Maintenance, upgrades, and retrofits extend asset life – reducing material consumption and avoiding premature replacement.

• Continuous Improvement: Ongoing optimization keeps systems efficient as conditions change, preventing hidden energy and resource losses.

• Sustainable Manufacturing: Energy-efficient production and continuous improvement reduce emissions, waste, and environmental impact at the source.

So, sustainability is not a parallel conversation, but an integral part of performance. Automation, circular design, lifecycle services, and responsible manufacturing all reduce environmental impact while strengthening resilience, efficiency, and trust.

“These trends underscore a clear message. Agility, technology, and strategic investment in automation are no longer optional, but essential for future business success”, says Kim Baudry, pointing to a simple reality: the organizations that lead are those that keep adapting, improving, and staying transparent as requirements evolve.