The Science of Space

Art of Optimizing Space Utilization

What if I tell you that Space is one of the final frontiers human beings need to conquer, would you agree? It would be wise and prudent if you do.

The population of the earth is multiplying like never before. We are already getting enough indications that globally food-related agricultural land is diminishing, challenging scientists to think of creating more space for agriculture. Likewise, space is being challenged continuously, for storing food and multiple non-food items. Therefore as human beings we need to start thinking of “Space creation” more than “Space Utilization”

This perspective drives us towards the study and practice of designing systems and infrastructure, which maximizes the efficient use of available physical space. It’s what we know as the “Science of Space”

As a concept, this science came into existence in the post-war years of the 1950s, when both the populations and inventory volumes surged. Managing the scarcity of space became a pressing concern of many organizations. They soon realized that the statically designed storage and building layouts resulted in a lot of "dead” or “underutilized” space, which was not being put to optimal use. Therefore a more scientific, analytical approach was needed to improve space utilization.

With the introduction of systems thinking in architecture and engineering, this science experienced saw a breakthrough. Buildings and facilities started? getting more attention, and being analyzed as holistic systems. Therefore efforts were deliberately geared towards re configuring their design, for maximum utilization of space. Modular, movable storage components were allowed to have more flexibility and mobility, rather than being static and fixed parts of infrastructure.

At first all the efforts were put together to optimize library stacks. The idea of movable bookshelves that could compress together, eliminated the wasted “aisle space” and doubled the book storage capacity. Gradually, this science of space optimization increased density from 5-6 shelves per section to over 20 shelves, without increasing the library's footprint.

Another important innovation which was inspired by the science of space, was the automated vertical storage systems, which was first pioneered by Remstar in the 1960s. These systems automated the storage and retrieval of inventory in vertically arranged bins, stored in high-density cabinets.

By the 1970s and 80s, the need to optimize factory and warehouse floor space for lean manufacturing propelled the adoption of mobile storage systems. Pallet racking, shelving and other storage units were now designed with mobility, using wheeled bases that aligned with the effective utilization of space.

The current-day mobile compactor system was a creative storage solution that incorporated all these key aspects, e.g.:

• Shelves/cabinets arranged in parallel moving rows with elimination of fixed aisles
• Mobile bases allowing units to be compressed together or expanded as needed
• Condensing units together when not in use removed wasted space
• Transferring the access aisle between high-density mobile units as required

The dynamic mobile compactor system design provided unmatched storage density and space? savings, compared to the conventional static storage. These systems could now achieve more than 10X increases in capacity by intelligently optimizing every inch of floor space.

What’s more interesting and important, is that the “science of space” continues to evolve each day, with the incorporation and integration of smart technologies of automation, robotics, IoT sensors and software. These technologies enable self-adjusting smart warehouses that capture real-time data and reshape inventory systems to achieve the most efficient use of available storage space.

Summarizing, the “science of space” pioneered the transformation of static storage infrastructure into optimized, intelligent systems - that deliver maximized density, flexibility and productivity per square foot. So it would not be wrong to conclude that science and technology is working overtime to conquer the final frontiers of “SPACE”.