One of your first considerations should be how you plan to build your automated warehouse. Greenfield refers to new builds on undisturbed land, and brownfield describes the continuation of existing projects on a site that has already been built.
If your warehouse is Greenfield, you can start from scratch and build an automated warehouse that is exactly to your liking. Finding an automated solution for this type of warehouse is easier than adapting a solution to a brownfield location, where there is existing infrastructure and possibly legacy systems that could impede on the integration of a new solution.
It’s important to note that either warehouse can be automated these days, as there are many solutions on the market that are able to adapt to a brownfield warehouse and work with what’s already there. However, knowing where you’re starting is crucial to understanding which type of automation solution you are looking for and how limited (or unlimited) you are.