MCE Resources

Maximize Your Warehouse Space: Build Up, Not Out with Ultimation

Written by Motion & Control Enterprises, LLC (MCE) | Jun 6, 2025 2:28:09 PM

Pressed for additional warehouse space? 

Stop thinking about square footage—and start imagining cubic footage. 

Warehouses across industries are running out of room. Labor is harder to find. Safety expectations are higher than ever. Building a new facility might seem like the only answer. But the cost and disruption can derail your operations and delay your ROI for years. 

Ultimation’s modular overhead and vertical conveyor systems offer a better way. With these systems, you can optimize your existing footprint and automate material handling—all designed to fit your operation and ship fast.

The Real Cost of Expanding Your Facility 

Construction is expensive. Today’s warehouse buildouts run $150 to $200 per square foot or more. That’s just the start – add in permits, inspections, and compliance delays that can add weeks or months to your timeline. 

HVAC and electrical upgrades often require custom work, driving costs even higher. If you’re expanding into a new location, real estate and lease premiums can take a bite out of your budget. Expect lost productivity as teams navigate workarounds and construction disruptions throughout this process.

Most facility expansion projects take six to 18 months to complete. That’s time you could spend moving more product—not waiting for concrete to dry. 

Vertical Solutions: Overhead Conveyors Explained   

Ultimation’s space-saving solutions make your current facility work smarter: 

  • Overhead conveyors free up floor space by moving products above active work zones. These systems are ideal for transporting items through work areas without interrupting foot traffic or floor-level operations. Ultimation offers power and free (P&F) and enclosed track systems to suit a range of load capacities and automation needs.   
  • Conveyors allow infeed and outfeed lines to stack vertically, increasing throughput in tight areas. Businesses can streamline material flow without expanding outward by placing multiple conveyors at different heights. Lifters can be integrated into the design to elevate or lower materials seamlessly. This space-saving approach is especially useful in applications like packaging lines, where product staging and sorting must occur in a limited footprint.  

 

 

  • Systems can mount to ceilings, mezzanines, or walls for ultimate flexibility. Ultimation’s modular designs support a variety of mounting configurations, making it easy to retrofit systems into existing facilities or build new layouts from scratch. Ultimation teams can configure components like brackets, tracks, and supports to fit your unique space and load requirements. 
  • Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) can move freely through various work environments without needing a fixed path or operator control, helping to enhance the overall safety performance of your warehouse operations.  The best planned and best run industrial facilities will likely utilize warehouse robots, floor conveyors and overhead conveyors.  

These systems serve many industries: automotive plants, fulfillment centers, vertical food farms, electronics packaging, and more. Wherever space is tight, overhead systems can open it back up. 

Total Cost Savings: More Than Just Floor Space 

Saving square footage is just the start. Ultimation’s overhead and vertical conveyor systems deliver cost benefits far beyond space optimization. These systems do more than move materials. They reduce labor demands, improve safety, and prevent product damage, helping to eliminate hidden costs that eat into your profits.  

Let’s look at how smart Ultimations vertical conveying solutions pay off across your entire operation.

Product Protection   

Rubber- and urethane-coated rollers reduce product damage by limiting vibration and slippage. They add grip and prevent metal-on-metal contact, protecting fragile items like painted components, electronics, and food packaging. Fewer damages mean fewer returns and higher customer satisfaction. 

Labor Shortage Solutions   

Conveyor automation reduces the need for manual material handling, especially for jobs that are hard to fill. Fewer repetitive tasks engage your workforce in ways that lead to lower turnover. These tools can also cut labor costs by reducing overtime and the time you spend onboarding new workers. 

Safety and Ergonomics   

Ultimation’s 24V DC-powered systems reduce noise, creating a safer and more comfortable workplace. Workers can hear alarms, equipment, and their coworkers, reducing the risk of accidents. Ergonomic designs reduce physical strain and injuries in your valuable labor force. These deliberately quiet systems also support OSHA compliance by reducing noise exposure in high-decibel environments. 

Cost Comparison: Facility Expansion vs. Vertical Expansion  

Ultimation’s overhead and vertical systems offer more than a one-time space solution; they create long-term ROI that compounds over time. Expanding your facility involves a higher cost up front and higher operational costs over time. Investing in vertical conveyors helps facilities operate leaner and smarter by minimizing space and downtime, while lowering labor demands. As your business grows, these systems grow with you, keeping your capital investments focused on efficiency rather than expansion.

As a bonus, companies that deploy these systems create operational efficiencies, including: 

  • Product damage and scrap reduction: Up to 30% fewer defects   
  • Labor cost savings: 20–40% reduction in manual handling hours   
  • Lower injury-related costs: Fewer OSHA fines and lost-time incidents   

Facilities benefit from better visibility and safer traffic lanes when they can clear floor-level clutter and elevate product flow. With Ultimation systems in place, forklifts and workers can move freely, which can reduce the risk of accidents in highly congested areas. 

These systems are also modular by design. That means when workflows change, you can adapt quickly. Need to reroute a line or add capacity? Ultimation’s modular components make it easy to scale without rebuilding from scratch. 

Maintenance is another area where Ultimation adds value. Their systems are designed to work with off-the-shelf parts available directly through their eCommerce platform. This functionality makes routine upkeep and part replacements faster and more affordable. Ultimately, vertical systems keep your operation running smoothly with less downtime. 

>> Ultimation Industries Forecasts Five Material Handling Trends for 2025 

Synergies with Other MCE Automation Divisions 

When you work with Ultimation, you get access to a larger network of automation expertise through Motion & Control Enterprises (MCE). We’ve deliberately created a one-stop shop based on our customers’ unique needs. For example, we offer integrated services in tandem with our MCE partners, such as: 

  • Full-system design and project integration   
    MCE- Applied Industrial Controls (ACI), an automation, controls, and drives distributor, serves industrial, OEM, and municipal customers throughout the Southeast. Their expertise in engineered systems ensures that Ultimation’s conveyor solutions can be effectively integrated into comprehensive automation projects, providing cohesive and efficient operations,  
  • Robotics for pick-and-place  
    MCE-RSA Solutions specializes in robotics, sensing, vision and code reading solutions that complement Ultimation’s vertical conveyor systems.Their robotic technologies facilitate precise pick-and-place operations across multiple conveyor levels, enhancing throughput and reducing manual handling. Watch this Automatic CasePacker in action.​  
  • Smart conveyor control systems  
    MCE-Industrial Control (IC) provides advanced control systems that bring intelligence to conveyor operations, such as their high-performance flexible feeding systems.MCE’s networking and PLC solutions can help improve the safety and efficiency of your automation processes, enabling real-time monitoring and adjustments, ensuring optimal performance and adaptability in dynamic manufacturing environments. 
  • Custom automation enhancements for complex, multi-layered solutions   
    MCE-Air Automation Engineering (AAE), is a distributor of automation products and automated tooling solutions. AAE offers robotic, PLC, and DC tool programming, especially for small-parts-assembly applications with Epson robotic solutions. They also provide calibration, and repair. Their capabilities support the customization and enhancement of Ultimation’s conveyor systems, ensuring tailored solutions for complex automation needs. 

By leveraging the strengths of these MCE companies, Ultimation delivers integrated automation solutions that maximize your efficiency and ROI. 

Space-Saving Solutions: How Ultimation’s Vertical Conveyors Revolutionize Warehousing 

Stop paying for space you don’t have—and don’t need to build. Optimize what you already own with Ultimation’s overhead and vertical conveyor systems.   

Our conveying and AMR systems ship fast, our support team answers in real time, and our product pages give you transparent pricing and lead times upfront. 

Building Smarter Warehouses, One Level at a Time 

Let us help you build a vertical conveying system for your facility. Schedule a free warehouse optimization consult.