Case Study · Automated High-Density Storage

A 13,304-Position Automated Shuttle Warehouse, Engineered on a Live Site in Texas

How Platform 1, through its Gonvarri Constructor partnership, designed, engineered, and installed a seismic-rated automated storage structure for a new facility in the Dallas–Fort Worth area.

Automated 4D pallet shuttle racking system aisle, Dallas–Fort Worth
Completed P90 racking supporting the automated 4D shuttle system.
13,304pallet positions*
5automated aisles
4Dshuttle system
SeismicFEM / EN 15512 rated

The challenge

A US warehouse automation integrator and its end customer, a global manufacturer of building-material systems, needed a high-density automated pallet storage system for a new facility in the Dallas–Fort Worth area. The structure had to be engineered into a purpose-built pit, receive a 4D automated shuttle system, and meet US seismic standards. All of it had to be installed on a live construction site with several trades working at once, while the racking itself was manufactured in Europe and shipped across the Atlantic in phases. It was a greenfield build with no margin for guesswork: the steel had to be right for the automation before the automation arrived.

The full height of the automated storage structure rising to the roofline
The automated structure rising the full height of the building.

The solution

Working through its Gonvarri Constructor partnership, Platform 1 designed and supplied a P90 adjustable pallet racking structure engineered to FEM/EN 15512 standards and rated for seismic performance. The system was purpose-built to carry the client’s automated 4D shuttle equipment across five aisles, and included a mezzanine rack level, integrated staircases, and anti-collapse mesh. Structural design and sealed drawings were completed to US code, with seismic calculations stamped by a licensed engineer. Materials were manufactured across the group’s European facilities and coordinated into a single, code-compliant system on the ground in Texas.

Execution

Delivery was phased across four shipments and roughly eighteen weeks of installation. Before work began, the team led a pre-installation site review with every trade on the project to align on pit access, delivery sequencing, power, and permitting. That coordination is what keeps a multi-trade automated build moving, and it set up the install to start clean. The racking was installed, levelled, plumbed, and grouted to tolerance, with the mezzanine, staircases, and anti-collapse mesh completed and signed off. The system was commissioned and formally accepted by the client in 2026.

The outcome

The result is a fully automated, shuttle-ready storage structure delivering 13,304 pallet positions across five aisles,* engineered to seismic standards and handed over with sealed structural documentation. It is a purpose-built greenfield system designed from the pit up to integrate with the client’s automation, not a retrofit worked around existing constraints. The structure was leveled, grouted, and signed off to specification, and commissioned for automated operation.

Why it matters

Projects like this show what Platform 1 clients reach through the Gonvarri Constructor partnership: global engineering and manufacturing capability, seismic and code expertise, and the coordination discipline to deliver enterprise-scale automated storage on a live site. Whether the project is in the Greater Toronto Area or across the border, the same engineering depth stands behind it. Racking is not a commodity. On an automated system, the structure is what determines whether the automation performs, and getting it right is the whole job.

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*Pallet position count is provisional pending final as-built confirmation. Project delivered through Platform 1’s Gonvarri Constructor partnership. Client shown anonymized pending naming approval.