Automated choice
April 1st 2008

EDEKA Regionalgesellschaft Rhein-Ruhr is the first German company to opt for Witron's fully automated warehouse and picking system – Order Picking Machinery (OPM) – at its new central warehouse in Hamm-Rhynern. Some 13,000 dry goods articles with widely varying dimensions, volumes and types of packaging are picked by the fully automated system

Experience shows that it pays to question things. Particularly if, as in the case of EDEKA Handelsgesellschaft Rhein-Ruhr, the findings lead to action. "The entire logistical infrastructure at EDEKA Rhein-Ruhr has been radically transformed in the last few months," says Thomas Kerkenhoff, Head of Logistics at EDEKA Rhein-Ruhr. "Of the five warehouse locations we originally had, we closed the two in Dortmund and Essen, and at the same time introduced new warehouse management systems in the warehouses in Moers, Meckenheim and Hamm and, during the same period, we also built a state-of-the-art fully automated central warehouse at the location in Hamm." This complete reorganisation was only partly prompted by new legal regulations concerning batch tracing. According to Kerkenhoff, error rates that were too high, inefficient processes and a desire to expand the assortment, driven particularly by EDEKA retailers, made it easier to decide to build the new central warehouse, which spans 60,000 square metres.

Constant unit costs despite growing assortments Previously EDEKA Rhein-Ruhr used a picking system based on 'strips', which the pickers tore from the picklist and applied to the picked article. Based on the data on these strips, the goods were picked manually and merged from the five locations that existed back then in several stages. Third-party order suppliers complemented the assortment. However, in order to be able to offer an even more attractive range of goods, the original quantity of 7000 listed dry goods articles needed to be more than doubled. Today, EDEKA Rhein-Ruhr stores and picks 13,000 articles without any problem at its location in Hamm thanks to the fully automated warehouse and picking system, Order Picking Machinery (OPM), supplied by Witron. There are also mediumterm plans in place to expand to roughly 15,000 products. "It would not have been commercially viable to replicate this massive increase in product groups and articles in the previous manual warehouses," explains Kerkenhoff. "Our priority was to keep the logistics costs per unit constant while continuously increasing the number of articles. OPM meets this criterion perfectly whatever the breadth and depth of the assortment. It therefore gives us a great deal of economic flexibility when it comes to storing and picking slow movers." Automated picking of a high range of different articles OPM combines standard logistics technology with the Case Order Machine (COM) developed by Witron – the innovative element of the OPM full-service solution. A combination that, according to authorised signatory of Witron, Ulrich Schlosser, opens up brand new opportunities: "Since around 85% of the EDEKA dry goods assortment can be picked fully automated with the help of the COM technology, it pays to invest in this technology. Because unlike the gripper and suction techniques that are used with robots, COM automatically pushes containers of different sizes, open carton trays, shrink-wrapped six packs and many other types of packaging onto roller containers and pallets." Witron has installed a total of 24 COMs in Hamm. They represent the heart of the EDEKA central warehouse in Hamm- Rhynern, where all the various assortments are stored: fresh products, such as fruits and vegetables, dairy products as well as frozen products are picked in temperature controlled areas using pick-by-voice applications linked up to the newly introduced Witron warehouse management system. The OPM technology, the tote picking solution DPS (Dynamic Picking System) – also a Witron development – and the bulky goods area cover the entire dry goods assortment. The DPS is used particularly for picking small-volume and high-price articles, such as cigarettes or razor blades. Even the integration (scheduled for the end of November) of one or two Marktkauf stores a week with a different product range again can be handled by OPM and DPS without any problem. "Both systems have been designed for peak performance and offer adequate capacity reserves," comments Schlosser. The merger of over thirty Marktkauf stores into the logistics of EDEKA Rhein-Ruhr will add another 30 to 40 percent to the warehousing and picking volume at the location in Hamm. With sales then forecasted to reach EUR 700 million, EDEKA Rhein-Ruhr will have one of the largest distribution centres for foodstuffs in Germany.

Advantages By applying the OPM-technology, Edeka is benefiting through its complete chain. First of all in the DC because of its impressive cost efficiency compared to a conventional solution. Next to that the system offers a huge flexibility with regard to e.g. the total number of different SKUs that can be handled (no pickfront needed anymore) and by supplying a kind of buffer in order to cope with unexpected peaks. By automating the picking, picking errors and resulting claims, can almost be eliminated.

This has led to the fact that deliveries do not need to be checked anymore in the store. Furthermore, the store owners benefit significantly by the fact that the deliveries are sorted by familygroup (store friendly delivery). This aspect, next to weight, stability and many other criteria is taken into account during the stacking of the products on the pallet or rollcage.

Witron sets itself a challenge The multi-layered material flows in the central warehouse, but also the tight schedule and the installation of the progressive and extensive warehouse system with parallel introductions of WMS at the warehouse locations in Moers and Meckenheim, presented Witron as general contractor with an extremely interesting planning-related challenge that needed to be met without delay. The EDEKA central warehouse project in Hamm-Rhynern was also the first time that a two-storey OPM system had been installed. "We practically integrated two systems, one on top of the other, and up to four platform levels," says Witron Project Manager, Johannes Meißner.

"This means that the tray storage areas that supply the COMs with goods also had to be two storeys high and linked up to both the HBW and the COMs via a sophisticated network of conveyors," comments Meißner to explain the significance of this project for Witron. "For the EDEKA project as a whole and for the individual areas of dry goods assortment, fresh and frozen products, a variety of different systems were integrated into the plant and harmonized with the existing logistical layout as well as was possible. Across all assortment areas, the consolidated orders are ready to leave the warehouse at the same time," explains Meißner. "The fact that the first OPM system that we have realised in Germany also offers such article diversity was obviously quite a challenge even for us, and one that we and EDEKA worked together to resolve successfully," adds Schlosser.

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