Before importing an AGV fleet from China, a warehouse operator should complete a detailed feasibility study instead of starting with a vehicle quotation. An AGV may have the required payload and lift height, but that does not automatically mean it can deliver the required throughput in the actual warehouse.

A serious feasibility study should connect four things: the warehouse's current operating data, the physical site conditions, the proposed AGV system, and the expected business return. This allows the buyer to determine whether the project is technically feasible, operationally practical, and financially justified before committing to imported equipment.

What Should a Deep AGV Feasibility Study Cover?

A detailed study should examine much more than aisle width and pallet weight. A Chinese automation supplier normally needs enough information to understand how material actually moves through the warehouse.

The study should typically cover:

• Daily pallet movements

• Peak hourly throughput

• Number of shifts

• Operating hours per shift

• Pickup and drop-off locations

• Average and maximum travel distances

• Required response times

• Number of simultaneous transport requests

• Storage rack configuration

• Aisle widths

• Rack heights

• Pallet dimensions and weights

• Floor conditions

• Charging locations

• Pedestrian and forklift traffic

• Loading dock and staging-area requirements

• WMS or ERP integration requirements

• Fire exits and restricted areas

• Future warehouse expansion plans

The purpose is to determine whether the proposed AGV fleet can meet the required workload under realistic operating conditions, including peak periods rather than only average daily demand.

What Throughput Data Do Chinese AGV Engineers Need?

A Chinese AGV manufacturer cannot accurately size a fleet from a simple statement such as "we move 500 pallets per day." The supplier needs to understand when those movements occur and how the warehouse generates transport requests.

For example, 500 pallet movements distributed evenly across a 16-hour operating day create a very different workload from 500 movements concentrated into two peak hours.

Useful operational records include:

• Pallet movements per hour

• Pallet movements by shift

• Peak movements during the busiest hour

• Pickup-to-drop-off pairs

• Average travel distance per movement

• Maximum travel distance

• Average loading and unloading time

• Waiting time at pickup locations

• Waiting time at storage locations

• Forklift travel time

• Queue time at congested areas

• Number of manual forklifts currently operating

• Battery charging or refueling downtime

• Number of pallets waiting for transportation

If the warehouse already uses a WMS, transportation records can be particularly valuable because they may reveal the actual origin and destination distribution of pallet movements.

The buyer should ideally provide several weeks of representative operating data rather than relying only on one unusually busy or unusually quiet day.

How Should Shift Logs Be Prepared for the Chinese Supplier?

A simple spreadsheet can be sufficient if the warehouse does not have a detailed transportation database.

A useful shift log can contain:

The goal is not to produce a perfect engineering dataset. The purpose is to give the automation supplier enough real operating information to model traffic demand, cycle time, fleet size, and potential bottlenecks.

Can a Chinese Automation Company Build a Realistic 3D Simulation?

Many industrial automation companies can develop some form of warehouse simulation, but the level of realism varies significantly between suppliers.

A useful simulation should represent the actual operating constraints of the proposed project rather than simply showing several AGVs moving around a warehouse model.

Depending on the project, the simulation may represent:

• Warehouse dimensions

• Rack locations

• Aisle widths

• Pickup and drop-off stations

• Staging areas

• Charging areas

• AGV travel paths

• Traffic intersections

• Vehicle acceleration and deceleration assumptions

• Loading and unloading cycle times

• Peak transport demand

• Fleet size

• Potential congestion points

The buyer should ask what assumptions are included in the simulation. A visually impressive 3D animation is not necessarily a throughput simulation.

A more useful deliverable should provide measurable outputs such as estimated completed transport missions per hour, vehicle utilization, waiting time, congestion areas, charging impact, and fleet capacity under the defined workload.

The simulation should also clearly distinguish between average performance and peak-period performance.

How Do I Calculate My Current Manual Pallet Transit Cost?

A realistic AGV ROI calculation needs a reliable baseline. Comparing the price of an AGV fleet directly with the hourly wage of a forklift operator is usually too simplistic.

The current manual pallet transport cost should consider the labor and operational resources required to perform the existing process.

A practical calculation can include:

• Forklift operator wages

• Payroll taxes and benefits

• Overtime

• Recruitment and training costs

• Forklift lease or depreciation

• Fuel or electricity

• Maintenance

• Tires and wear components

• Operator waiting time

• Travel and congestion losses

• Product damage related to manual handling

• Equipment downtime

• Supervision costs

For example, if a warehouse uses several forklift operators during each shift, the buyer should calculate the actual annual labor cost associated with the pallet movements being considered for automation.

The calculation should then be compared with the complete cost of the proposed AGV solution, including vehicles, chargers, fleet software, integration, installation, commissioning, training, maintenance, spare parts, infrastructure modifications, and ongoing software or service costs where applicable.

Why Is Peak Throughput More Important Than Average Throughput?

One of the most common feasibility-study mistakes is sizing the AGV fleet according to average daily pallet movements.

Suppose a warehouse moves 800 pallets per day. That number alone does not tell the supplier how many AGVs are required.

If demand is evenly distributed, the fleet may have substantial idle capacity. If a large proportion of those movements occur during a short shipping window, the fleet may need significantly more capacity to prevent queues.

The feasibility model should therefore examine:

• Average hourly demand

• Peak hourly demand

• Peak transport request bursts

• Travel distance distribution

• Loading and unloading cycle time

• Traffic congestion

• Charging requirements

• Vehicle availability

• Recovery from temporary congestion

A fleet that works during average conditions but cannot recover from peak demand may not meet the warehouse's actual operational requirements.

What Facility Infrastructure Problems Can Invalidate the Study?

A feasibility study can become unreliable if important site conditions are missing or incorrectly represented.

Common problems include:

• Incorrect warehouse dimensions

• Outdated rack layouts

• Incorrect aisle widths

• Unrecorded columns or structural obstacles

• Unexpected floor height transitions

• Floor conditions that are unsuitable for the proposed vehicle configuration

• Insufficient clearance around racks

• Incorrect pallet dimensions

• Unstable or damaged pallets

• Unexpected pedestrian traffic

• Insufficient staging space

• Inadequate charging infrastructure

• Blocked emergency routes

• Unidentified doors or gates

• Changes to the warehouse layout after the simulation data was collected

A CAD drawing alone is also not enough. Engineering drawings may not reflect temporary storage, actual pallet positions, damaged rack components, pedestrian behavior, or operational congestion.

A physical site survey is therefore an important part of a serious AGV feasibility study.

Why Are Pallet Specifications Critical to AGV Feasibility?

The AGV design must match the actual pallets used in the warehouse. A nominal pallet weight is not enough to determine compatibility.

The study should identify:

• Pallet length and width

• Overall load dimensions

• Maximum load weight

• Load center

• Fork entry dimensions

• Bottom-board configuration

• Condition of the pallets

• Load overhang

• Load stability

• Variation between pallet types

If multiple pallet types are used, each important type should be included in the feasibility assessment. A pallet that works well during a demonstration may not represent the most difficult pallet configuration in daily operation.

How Should Narrow-Aisle and High-Bay Warehouses Be Evaluated?

For high-bay or narrow-aisle warehouses, vehicle selection becomes closely connected to the rack system and building geometry.

The feasibility study should examine the complete combination of:

• Vehicle overall dimensions

• Required aisle width

• Pallet dimensions

• Load center

• Lift height

• Residual capacity at the required lift height

• Rack beam geometry

• Floor conditions

• Pallet positioning tolerance

• Rack protection and guidance requirements

• Required operating clearances

The narrowest possible aisle should not automatically be treated as the best design. A slightly wider aisle may provide better throughput, easier maintenance access, improved pallet-entry tolerance, or lower operational risk.

What Should the Chinese Supplier Deliver at the End of the Feasibility Study?

Before approving the purchase, the customer should request a documented feasibility package rather than relying on a sales presentation.

A useful package can include:

• Recommended AGV models

• Required fleet quantity

• Warehouse layout

• AGV travel routes

• Pickup and drop-off locations

• Charging strategy

• Estimated throughput

• Peak-period capacity analysis

• Traffic and congestion analysis

• 3D simulation where appropriate

• WMS integration concept

• Infrastructure modification requirements

• Safety-zone concept

• Site preparation requirements

• Estimated implementation schedule

• Assumptions and limitations

The assumptions are particularly important. If the supplier's throughput calculation assumes a specific loading time, pallet quality, floor condition, traffic pattern, or charging strategy, those assumptions should be documented.

What Is a Practical Go/No-Go Decision Framework?

The final decision should not be based on the AGV purchase price alone.

A project is more likely to be viable when the technical solution can meet the required throughput, the warehouse infrastructure can support the vehicles, the integration requirements are understood, and the financial model remains attractive after including implementation and ongoing operating costs.

If critical site information is missing, the correct decision may be to perform additional site measurements or a pilot rather than immediately approve the fleet purchase.

For an imported Chinese AGV project, a deep feasibility study should ultimately answer one practical question:

Can this specific fleet, in this specific warehouse, with these pallets, traffic patterns, infrastructure conditions, and operating hours, consistently deliver the required throughput at an acceptable total cost?

If the answer is supported by real operating data, physical site measurements, simulation assumptions, and a transparent cost model, the buyer has a much stronger basis for moving from supplier quotations to an actual AGV investment decision.