Cutlery is stored in Dortmund distribution centre in Germany to be delivered to IKEA stores across Europe. The scale of the operation at Dortmund is massive. One warehouse is 135 hectares and Dortmund has three warehouses this size, each one storing 800,000 pallets worth of furniture and household objects. Due to the size of these 32 metre high warehouses robotic lifts move items from shelves onto robotic run forklifts. Immense amounts of energy go into the constantly moving elements of the warehouse.