Three business professionals analyzing supply chain performance data and logistics metrics on a large digital display screen in a modern office environment.

Conscious Trade-offs: The New Logic of Logistics Management

Tomasz Mika from JLL presenting a report on the Polish warehouse market and the impact of demographic changes on commercial real estate in Poland through 2035.

E-commerce is Growing, Workers are Declining. The Polish Warehouse Market at a Turning Point

Four JLL representatives standing at a June event in Sopot in front of a backdrop reading "Forum Rynku Nieruchomości - Polish Real Estate Forum".

How is the role of warehouses changing in the Polish economy? Insights from the Real Estate Forum in Sopot

<h1>Warehouses are no longer just operational backstops. Warehouses are ceasing to be merely operational backstops for supply chains. Increasingly, they are becoming places where the principles of Industry 5.0 – a concept combining automation, sustainability, and a human-centric approach – are realized in practice. For Polish tenants, this translates into a shift in decision-making criteria: from scale and cost of space toward efficiency, resilience, and quality of the working environment.</h1>After years of dynamic expansion, the Polish warehouse market is entering a phase of greater selectivity. According to JLL data and observations from the firm's experts, following record years of supply, 2025 brought a marked slowdown in the pace of new project delivery. Renegotiations and lease extensions have gained significance – for the first time in history, their volume (over 3.5 million sqm) exceeded new demand (3.3 million sqm). Analyses of location quality and potential for modern technology implementation have also become more important, rather than focusing exclusively on rent levels. This shift in emphasis demonstrates a broader change in the approach to warehouses. They are increasingly perceived as an integral part of companies' operational and investment strategies, not merely as space for storing goods.<h2>Logistics as a Source of Competitive Advantage</h2>This same direction is confirmed by global data presented during the World Economic Forum in Davos. The "Global Trade Observatory Annual Outlook Report 2026," prepared by DP World based on a survey of over 3,500 supply chain managers, shows that the area of goods flow management is ceasing to be a business support function and is becoming one of the strategic sources of competitive advantage.The report indicates that despite high political uncertainty and rising trade barriers, 94% of respondents expect further trade growth in 2026. At the same time, 100% of managers identify customs procedures as one of the main causes of delays, while 45% identify limited warehouse capacity as a significant bottleneck. As many as 39% of respondents consider distribution facilities and logistics hubs to be a key area for necessary infrastructure investments. A valuable signal is also that 96% of companies plan to have at least partially automated operations by the end of 2026. Essentially, this means that underinvested or poorly designed facilities constrain the efficiency of entire supply networks.<blockquote>"Intralogistics has functioned for years as a cost center and area of non-value-added operations, being effectively overlooked in investment decisions. Today, in conditions of rising labor costs, limited worker availability, and market disruptions, it is becoming not only a critical process but actually the connective tissue of the enterprise and an element of competitive advantage," explains Adam Pajda, Director of the Intralogistics Business Line at ASTOR.</blockquote><h2>From Expansion to Efficiency</h2>In response to these challenges, companies are analyzing their use of existing warehouses more carefully. Instead of seeking more space, they are focusing on improving efficiency through changes in racking layout, increasing storage density, or shortening picking routes. IT tools such as WMS systems and functionalities like slotting (placing goods according to picking frequency) play a significant role, enabling analysis of turnover and optimal product placement.Optimization also applies to entire real estate portfolios. Decisions about remaining in a given facility or relocating often fall in favor of proven locations, especially where the costs of change and risk of operational disruptions are high.<h2>Automation and ESG as Common Market Denominators</h2>In parallel, the importance of mechanization and robotization is growing, along with the integration of warehouse infrastructure with sales platforms and client ERP systems. In e-commerce, retail, and the 3PL sector, sorting systems, mobile racking, autonomous vehicles, and solutions based on advanced analytics and artificial intelligence are increasingly being implemented to support demand forecasting, inventory management, and returns handling. As shown by studies such as "Industry 5.0 and Green Supply Chain Management Synergy for Sustainable Development" and "The Integration of Green Logistics and Industry 5.0" regarding the relationship between Industry 5.0 and green supply chain management, these technologies – supplemented by cloud platforms and digital twins (virtual building models) – increase warehouses' operational efficiency while enabling reduction of environmental footprint and better product lifecycle management.ESG is becoming a common denominator of interests for developers, investors, banks, and tenants. JLL's report summarizing 2025 indicates that after a period of rapid growth, sustainability has ceased to be a marketing slogan and has become a real financing requirement. Energy efficiency, renewable energy sources, energy management systems, and emission reduction increasingly determine a facility's attractiveness, as do social issues – transportation accessibility, social amenities standards, safety, and work environment quality.<h2>Industry 4.0 vs. 5.0: A Crucial Shift</h2>The 4.0 paradigm focused on digitization and technologization of processes, which in warehouse-distribution operations meant digitalization and robotization of selected activities and the use of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data analytics to increase efficiency, reduce costs, and minimize errors. The priority was maximizing operational effectiveness – often measured by throughput, order fulfillment time, and unit cost.The 5.0 model, promoted by the European Commission, does not replace the earlier idea but complements it. It is based on three clearly defined principles: human-centricity, sustainability, and resilience to disruptions. In the European framework, this translates to moving away from viewing technology solely as a cost optimization tool toward designing solutions that simultaneously consider working conditions, environmental impact, and supply chains' ability to function under uncertainty.<blockquote>"The pandemic and energy crisis were not anomalies but brutal tests that exposed the strategic weakness of many supply chains. Industry 5.0 is not another EU concept but a new operating system for logistics, in which the warehouse begins to function as a kind of insurance policy for the entire business. This is a fundamental shift in thinking: resilience ceases to be a cost and becomes a condition for survival, sustainability becomes a requirement for access to capital, and a human-centric approach becomes a necessary condition for technology investments to deliver real returns," comments Klaudia Rydz, Consultant, Industrial Agency, JLL.</blockquote>This is precisely why operations, warehousing, and distribution are identified in the document "Industry 5.0: A Transformative Vision for Europe" as a natural field for implementing 5.0 principles. This is where digital technologies, energy consumption, emissions, work organization, and customer expectations intersect – all areas that the new concept attempts to combine into one coherent model.<h2>The Human-Friendly Warehouse</h2>Research conducted by academic teams at LIUC as part of the Warehouse 5.0 project and authors of reviews such as "Workplace Well Being in Industry 5.0" shows that a human-centric warehouse combines intelligent technologies with ergonomics, safety, and employee wellbeing. In business applications, this includes implementing cobots, autonomous AMR vehicles, exoskeletons, wearables, or augmented reality that genuinely relieve workers from the most demanding tasks.<blockquote>"In practice, the transition from 'warehouse 4.0' to '5.0' has been happening for a long time – it consists of moving away from thinking about automation exclusively as a way to reduce labor costs. The goal is to create an environment where technology takes over repetitive, physically demanding, or error-prone tasks, allowing workers to focus on activities requiring experience and decision-making. In our experience, the greatest value comes from projects that simultaneously improve productivity, ergonomics, and operational resilience. The most common mistake, on the other hand, is implementing automation as an end in itself, without considering user needs and long-term process flexibility," emphasizes Jacek Olszewski, Director &amp; Partner, Miebach Consulting Group.</blockquote>An important element is also considering the human factor – involving employees in process design, conducting pilots, and jointly creating safety procedures. Materials from the Federation of European Ergonomics Societies (FEES) and the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) indicate that such an approach brings benefits encompassing both better employee wellbeing and satisfaction, as well as reduced turnover, fewer errors, and higher acceptance of technological changes.<blockquote>"The role of the transformation leader is becoming increasingly important – someone who can connect process, technological, and organizational perspectives: set priorities, create frameworks for automation and robotics systems, and effectively guide the organization through change. It is precisely these conscious 'human-centric' decisions in the context of modern technologies that translate into higher efficiency, greater operational resilience, and process predictability," adds Adam Pajda.</blockquote><h2>Example from Poland: Auchan Warehouse in Wilcza Góra</h2>A practical implementation of Industry 5.0 principles is illustrated by Auchan's distribution center in Wilcza Góra near Warsaw, based on the Ocado Smart Platform technology. This is one of the most automated e-grocery warehouses in Europe, utilizing hundreds of autonomous robots and advanced IT systems for high-precision order picking, intelligent inventory management and order sequencing, and control of product storage conditions. Such a solution allows better space utilization within the facility, reduces errors and waste, and shortens order fulfillment times.At the same time, the human role in the entire process remains indisputable – employees supervise processes, respond to non-standard situations, ensure customer service quality, and co-create tools for monitoring robotic devices.<blockquote>"Such projects also require a different cooperation model between the retail network, technology provider, logistics operator, and facility owner – which in itself is one of the practical manifestations of 5.0 postulates, shifting emphasis from a single investment to long-term partnership. This is also a perfect example that technology, humans, and sustainability must work in mutual harmony," notes Edyta Kowalska, Senior Consultant, Industrial Agency, JLL.</blockquote><h2>Label or Real Competitive Advantage?</h2>At the level of EU documents, we speak of Industry 5.0, the circular economy, and resilient supply chains. When describing the transformation of Polish logistics, terms like automation, digitalization, ESG, and real estate portfolio optimization are used more frequently, although essentially they describe the same direction.<blockquote>"The real battle for competitive advantage in Polish logistics will not be fought at the level of individual technologies, but strategies. Industry 5.0 may remain an empty label for those who treat it like a checklist: robot, PV installation, ergonomics training. The winners will be those who understand that this is not a sum of costs but one integrated operating model. Today, the key question is no longer: can we afford this?, but: how quickly can we redesign our business before the cost of this transformation increases and change turns from a proactive choice into a market necessity," adds Klaudia Rydz.</blockquote>

Przemysł 5.0 w logistyce: jak zmienia się rola magazynów w Polsce i Europie