Peak season can expose weaknesses that are not visible during normal warehouse operations. A warehouse may operate smoothly with a moderate pallet volume but experience AGV queues, charging pressure, staging congestion, or manual intervention when order volume suddenly increases.

For this reason, AGV capacity should be evaluated against the warehouse's peak operating conditions rather than average daily volume alone. 《How to Select the Right Automated Forklift for Your Warehouse》

Why Is Peak Season Different for AGVs?

Peak season changes more than the number of transport tasks.

It can also change:

• Inbound pallet volume

• Outbound pallet volume

• Task release frequency

• Staging occupancy

• AGV utilization

• Charging demand

• Traffic congestion

• Manual forklift activity

• Operator intervention frequency

A fleet that has enough vehicles under normal conditions may therefore become constrained during a short period of high demand.

How Should Peak AGV Capacity Be Calculated?

The first step is to identify the actual transport demand during the busiest operating periods.

Useful data includes:

• Pallet moves per hour

• Peak inbound moves

• Peak outbound moves

• Average loaded travel distance

• Average empty travel distance

• Pickup and drop-off time

• Traffic delays

• Charging time

• Manual intervention time

Do not base fleet sizing only on theoretical AGV travel speed. Real warehouse cycle time also includes pickup, positioning, waiting, traffic, task assignment, and other operational conditions.

Should the Warehouse Add More AGVs Before Peak Season?

Adding vehicles is one possible solution, but it is not always the first solution to evaluate.

If the real bottleneck is a single pickup station, narrow aisle, staging area, charging location, or WMS task-release process, adding more AGVs can increase congestion without increasing effective throughput.

Before increasing fleet size, identify the actual bottleneck.

How Should Charging Be Managed During Peak Season?

Peak demand can increase the importance of battery availability.

The warehouse should review:

• AGV operating hours

• Battery capacity

• Charging strategy

• Charging locations

• Charging duration

• Opportunity charging opportunities

• Battery replacement requirements, if applicable

The objective is to ensure that charging demand does not become a hidden capacity constraint during the busiest periods.

How Should AGV Task Priorities Change?

Not every pallet has the same urgency.

During peak season, the fleet management system may need to distinguish between:

• Urgent outbound shipments

• Normal outbound shipments

• Production-critical movements

• Standard putaway

• Empty-pallet movements

Priority rules should be agreed before peak operations begin. Otherwise, a large number of low-priority tasks can occupy AGVs while time-sensitive pallets wait.

How Should Temporary Staging Be Planned?

Peak season may require additional temporary staging capacity.

However, temporary staging areas should not block AGV routes, emergency access, rack aisles, or manual forklift paths.

Before the peak period, define:

• Temporary pallet locations

• AGV access routes

• Maximum staging capacity

• Overflow locations

• Manual handling procedures

• Rules for removing completed pallets

What Should Happen if the AGV Fleet Becomes Saturated?

A peak-season plan should include a fallback process.

For example, the warehouse can define which transport tasks are temporarily handled manually when AGV capacity is fully occupied.

This is different from replacing the AGV system with manual forklifts. The objective is to maintain critical warehouse operations while preventing excessive AGV queueing.

What Should Be Tested Before Peak Season?

• High task-release volume

• Multiple AGVs arriving at the same area

• High staging occupancy

• Charging demand

• Temporary route closures

• Manual forklift interaction

• WMS communication interruptions

• AGV recovery after faults

• Urgent outbound tasks

Peak-season preparation should be completed before the warehouse reaches maximum workload.

What Data Should Be Reviewed After Peak Season?

• AGV utilization

• Average and peak task waiting time

• Manual interventions

• Charging-related delays

• Traffic congestion

• Exception frequency

• Uncompleted tasks

• Outbound deadline performance

This information can be used to determine whether future capacity should be increased through additional AGVs, better traffic planning, additional staging, software optimization, or changes to the warehouse process.