New Warehouse Rises Skyward

Smarter, Energy‑Efficient High‑Bay Warehouse

The automotive industry is transforming – demands for speed, flexibility, and sustainability are turning warehouses into advanced logistics centres, as seen in the new U44 high-bay body shop warehouse.

Since January 2025, a new high-bay warehouse for painted car bodies has been under construction near the Octavia cafeteria in Mladá Boleslav, between the paint shop and the assembly line. The structure, measuring 110 metres in length, 42 metres in width and 34 metres in height, is gradually becoming a prominent technical feature within the site. However, its importance lies not only in its size but primarily in the role it will fulfil. The warehouse will be connected to existing and new material flows across five separate service floors, each of which serves a specific function. These floors handle empty skids, receive car bodies from existing paint shops, facilitate the future integration of the new paint shop and provide sequential supply to the M1 and M13 assembly lines. 

Following its launch in 2027 and the subsequent integration of the new paint shop in 2029, it will become a key element of the production material flow system, linking both paint shops and assembly lines into a single flexible system. It will thus serve as a buffer between operations to enable a flexible response to current production needs and to reduce waiting times between individual operations.

The warehouse can hold a total of 870 painted car bodies. Each will be automatically stored in a designated position and then retrieved according to the assembly line’s current needs. The top level will include a storage area with a capacity of an additional 150 positions. This will serve as a sequencing buffer where car bodies are arranged according to the production requirements of the M13 assembly line. 

The centrepiece of the fully automated warehouse will be seven stacker cranes, each 29.3 metres tall and capable of speeds of up to 120 metres per minute, which will ensure controlled storage and retrieval of car bodies from individual cells. “The stackers are equipped with a system that integrates the drive and control systems with intelligent energy management. This system balances peak loads and optimises grid load, recovers braking energy and reuses it, increases power supply stability during short-term outages and reduces the overall energy consumption of operations. The result is more efficient, more stable and more cost-effective warehouse operation,” adds Patrik Bachorík of PPF-L/6 – Conveyer Technic department. 

Solar panels will be installed on the building’s roof to partially cover the warehouse’s electricity consumption. Combined with the energy recovery in the stacker system, this creates an optimised system that reduces both operating costs and environmental impact.

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(Un)surprising increase in complexity

Growing storage demands are linked to the increased complexity of parts for current Škoda cars. If we set aside body style variants and focus solely on individual models, the carmaker will have 11 models on offer for the Czech market in 2026, following the launch of the Epiq and Peaq electric cars. Four of these will be fully electric, three plug-in hybrids, and four with internal combustion engines. Although electric cars require less complexity than cars with internal combustion engines, Škoda Auto has never before produced such a broad model portfolio simultaneously.