With hundreds of different beverage products flowing in daily, German bottler Labertaler was having a hard time keeping its head above water. Automated DC systems changed all that.
David Maloney has been a journalist for more than 35 years and is currently the group editorial director for DC Velocity and Supply Chain Quarterly magazines. In this role, he is responsible for the editorial content of both brands of Agile Business Media. Dave joined DC Velocity in April of 2004. Prior to that, he was a senior editor for Modern Materials Handling magazine. Dave also has extensive experience as a broadcast journalist. Before writing for supply chain publications, he was a journalist, television producer and director in Pittsburgh. Dave combines a background of reporting on logistics with his video production experience to bring new opportunities to DC Velocity readers, including web videos highlighting top distribution and logistics facilities, webcasts and other cross-media projects. He continues to live and work in the Pittsburgh area.
The rolling hills of Lower Bavaria are known for their natural springs. Nestled in a valley near the town of Schierling is Labertaler, one of Germany's leading producers of natural spring waters and other beverages.
In the U.S., a handful of brands dominate the bottled water market, but it's a different story in Germany. German bottlers face stiff competition, with a wide variety of waters vying for the consumer's dollar. These include mineral water, plain (non-carbonated) water, high vitality water, and flavored waters. And the variety of offerings continues to grow, which means companies like Labertaler must contend with a constantly expanding stock-keeping unit (SKU) base.
Family-owned Labertaler has been a regional bottler in Bavaria since 1949, when it delivered homemade lemonade by handcart. Times have changed, and Labertaler has long since replaced the handcart with modern technology in an effort to improve customer service, process higher volumes, and accommodate 320 different beverage products. Labertaler now boasts a highly automated DC adjacent to its Schierling bottling plant from which it distributes water, juice, and soft drinks produced at the plant as well as both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages supplied by other manufacturers. Many of these products are sold through its 150 company-owned beverage stores, branded as Hausler Getränkemarkt. It also distributes beer, juice, and sodas to wholesale customers.
Krones, a German material handling company that specializes in beverages, provided most of the bottling and handling equipment in the production plant, so it was only natural that Labertaler would turn to Krones to design and implement its warehouse systems. The materials handling solution Krones engineered includes automated guided vehicles, high-density automated storage, transfer shuttle cars, and plenty of pallet conveyors to link them all together.
WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE
Today, the process unfolds with well-tuned precision. Incoming shipments are delivered by truck to a transportation hall located on the DC's ground level. Beverage trucks pull into the building for unloading at eight positions, opening their side doors to give lift trucks access to their contents. The truck drivers carry PDAs (personal digital assistants), which they use to transfer data on their inbound loads to the facility's enterprise resource planning (ERP) system upon arrival.
Adjacent to the open transportation hall is a two-level transport system featuring rail-guided shuttles. The shuttles serve both incoming and outgoing products. Received goods are handled on the lower shuttle, while goods that are ready for loading onto trucks flow out from the upper shuttle system, which operates above receiving and about 10 feet from floor level. The open design allows lift trucks to access the input and output stations of both shuttles from the main floor.
Lift trucks are dispatched to collect pallets from the delivery trucks and ferry them the short distance to the receiving stations of the shuttle. Upon arrival, the lift trucks simply place their loads on the shuttle input positions. A shuttle car then takes the pallet and transfers it to conveyors for transport to the high-bay storage area.
While plastic single-use bottles are becoming more popular in Germany, most beverages are still packaged in reusable glass bottles. These empties, returned from stores and wholesale customers, are unloaded from delivery trucks and transferred to the lower-level shuttle. From there, the empty bottles are raised with a vertical lift and then diverted to an overhead bridge, where they're deposited on a conveyor that whisks them to the adjacent bottling plant.
Once the empty-bottle pallets arrive at the production side of the bridge, a lift automatically lowers them to the first-floor level. From there, one of the facility's eight automated guided vehicles (AGVs) gathers the pallets, four at a time, from the lifts and carries them to temporary storage or bottling operations as needed. The empty bottles are eventually washed and refilled.
Bottling takes place on three lines using local spring water. Two lines handle glass bottles, while the third fills plastic bottles. The bottles are placed into beverage crates, which are then stacked onto pallets, typically 36 crates per pallet. The same AGVs that handle the empty returned bottles also move the filled crates. The pallet loads are taken to a vertical lift, which raises them to the overhead bridge. A conveyor in the bridge, flowing in the opposite direction from the returned bottles, transports them to other conveyors that move them to the high-bay input stations.
WATER TOWER
Local zoning regulations in Schierling restrict the height of Labertaler's high-bay warehouse to 28 meters (about 92 feet). As a result, Labertaler opted for deep-lane automated storage to maximize capacity in a small footprint. Pallets here are packed densely into long channels.
Approximately 400 SKUs find a home in 15,000 high-bay positions that are redundantly spread over 11 levels. Incoming pallets are transferred upon arrival to one of two vertical lifts that move them to their assigned levels. Typically, one lift is used for inbound pallets and the other for outbound, but each lift can serve both functions.
From the lift, each pallet is moved to a transfer car that runs down the middle of each level, perpendicular to the 72 channel lanes. The warehouse management system (WMS), also supplied by Krones, assigns the storage positions dynamically. Once the transfer car reaches the appropriate lane, a small shuttle extends from the car to move product down the lanes, left or right, depending on the product's storage destination. The lanes to the left can hold 11 pallets, while those to the right house products eight positions deep.
The shuttle glides under the pallet and lifts it for transport down the lane. It then ferries its load to the assigned position, measuring the distance within the lane by the length of the extended shuttle cable in combination with lasers. Normally, only one SKU from one production batch is assigned per lane. This arrangement assures that all SKUs are accessible at any time and that there is flexibility to process items on a first-in/first-out basis. Most products stay in the high bay only a few days. All told, the system can handle 310 inbound pallets per hour.
ABOVE AND BELOW
The deep-lane storage system at Labertaler is designed with an access deck near the racking's vertical midpoint. Visitors to the facility are treated to a special-effects show thanks to some creative lighting here. Levels above the deck are bathed in blue light, while those below are washed in red. Labertaler calls it "heaven and hell," and the effect, especially looking down into the depths, is striking.
New products continually move in, while products needed for orders or to replenish the crate picking areas are gathered with the same shuttles for output. The shuttles slide under the loads, lift them up to clear the rails, and return them to the transfer cars. The transfer cars next reload the pallets onto a lift for placement onto an outbound lane. The system can discharge 360 pallets per hour at peak.
Products that will ship as full pallets are conveyed to the dispatch shipping area located in the transportation hall. A shuttle car picks up each load and delivers it to an assigned staging lane. Lift trucks gather the loads and place them onto the appropriate beverage trucks.
MIXED BEVERAGES
Other pallets coming from the high-bay warehouse replenish a crate picking area on the upper floor of the two-level DC (on the floor above the transportation hall). Picking items in crate quantities is a growing trend, as an ever-expanding array of flavors and varieties are being shipped to stores. As a result, mixed pallets now make up the majority of loads.
The crate picking area is divided into four modules. It features 320 different SKUs of products and has one picking slot assigned for each of those SKUs. Four rail shuttle cars move within the modules, one per module, to automatically restock products. Each of the 320 storage locations holds two pallets, so that a fresh pallet is always available for picking. In effect, the system has a capacity of 640 pallets.
While the WMS is capable of dynamically assigning storage locations in the crate pick area (as in the high-bay warehouse), Labertaler has found assigning SKUs to fixed slots to be more efficient. That's because it has a fairly stable SKU base, with items that are selected repeatedly. Plus, in contrast to the high bay, humans are involved in the picking here, and fixed slots make it easier for them to find product and help assure accuracy.
The WMS uses a voice system to provide workers with instructions for selecting crates and building mixed-SKU order pallets onto walkie rider trucks. Approximately 2,800 crates an hour can be selected in the crate pick area. While the warehouse turns its inventory every few days, stock turns even faster in the peak seasons—summer time when demand for water spikes, and holidays such as Christmas and Easter. During these periods, the manufacturing plant operates around the clock, while a second shift is employed in the distribution building.
Once a mixed pallet is complete, the operator moves it to one of the shuttle system's input stations. The shuttle then delivers it to the conveyors for transport to shipping (or if it's not needed immediately for loading, it can be sent to temporary holding in the high-bay warehouse). The shuttle system in the shipping area also has some buffering capability to gather pallet loads from all of the processing areas (bottling, the automated storage system, and the crate pick areas) until everything needed for the shipment has been accumulated and the scheduled truck arrives. Typically, the building can process about 10 truckloads per hour. Labertaler operates its own fleet but also contracts with for-hire carriers when needed.
As for the results? By all accounts, the new system has been a success. Today, the high-bay warehouse and automated systems at Labertaler keep the beverages flowing like, well, water.
E-commerce activity remains robust, but a growing number of consumers are reintegrating physical stores into their shopping journeys in 2024, emphasizing the need for retailers to focus on omnichannel business strategies. That’s according to an e-commerce study from Ryder System, Inc., released this week.
Ryder surveyed more than 1,300 consumers for its 2024 E-Commerce Consumer Study and found that 61% of consumers shop in-store “because they enjoy the experience,” a 21% increase compared to results from Ryder’s 2023 survey on the same subject. The current survey also found that 35% shop in-store because they don’t want to wait for online orders in the mail (up 4% from last year), and 15% say they shop in-store to avoid package theft (up 8% from last year).
“Retail and e-commerce continue to evolve,” Jeff Wolpov, Ryder’s senior vice president of e-commerce, said in a statement announcing the survey’s findings. “The emergence of e-commerce and growth of omnichannel fulfillment, particularly over the past four years, has altered consumer expectations and behavior dramatically and will continue to do so as time and technology allow.
“This latest study demonstrates that, while consumers maintain a robust
appetite for e-commerce, they are simultaneously embracing in-person shopping, presenting an impetus for merchants to refine their omnichannel strategies.”
Other findings include:
• Apparel and cosmetics shoppers show growing attraction to buying in-store. When purchasing apparel and cosmetics, shoppers are more inclined to make purchases in a physical location than they were last year, according to Ryder. Forty-one percent of shoppers who buy cosmetics said they prefer to do so either in a brand’s physical retail location or a department/convenience store (+9%). As for apparel shoppers, 54% said they prefer to buy clothing in those same brick-and-mortar locations (+9%).
• More customers prefer returning online purchases in physical stores. Fifty-five percent of shoppers (+15%) now say they would rather return online purchases in-store–the first time since early 2020 the preference to Buy Online Return In-Store (BORIS) has outweighed returning via mail, according to the survey. Forty percent of shoppers said they often make additional purchases when picking up or returning online purchases in-store (+2%).
• Consumers are extremely reliant on mobile devices when shopping in-store. This year’s survey reveals that 77% of consumers search for items on their mobile devices while in a store, Ryder said. Sixty-nine percent said they compare prices with items in nearby stores, 58% check availability at other stores, 31% want to learn more about a product, and 17% want to see other items frequently purchased with a product they’re considering.
Ryder said the findings also underscore the importance of investing in technology solutions that allow companies to provide customers with flexible purchasing options.
“Omnichannel strength is not a fad; it is a strategic necessity for e-commerce and retail businesses to stay competitive and achieve sustainable success in 2024 and beyond,” Wolpov also said. “The findings from this year’s study underscore what we know our customers are experiencing, which is the positive impact of integrating supply chain technology solutions across their sales channels, enabling them to provide their customers with flexible, convenient options to personalize their experience and heighten customer satisfaction.”
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.
National nonprofit Wreaths Across America (WAA) kicked off its 2024 season this week with a call for volunteers. The group, which honors U.S. military veterans through a range of civic outreach programs, is seeking trucking companies and professional drivers to help deliver wreaths to cemeteries across the country for its annual wreath-laying ceremony, December 14.
“Wreaths Across America relies on the transportation industry to move the mission. The Honor Fleet, composed of dedicated carriers, professional drivers, and other transportation partners, guarantees the delivery of millions of sponsored veterans’ wreaths to their destination each year,” Courtney George, WAA’s director of trucking and industry relations, said in a statement Tuesday. “Transportation partners benefit from driver retention and recruitment, employee engagement, positive brand exposure, and the opportunity to give back to their community’s veterans and military families.”
WAA delivers wreaths to more than 4,500 locations nationwide, and as of this week had added more than 20 loads to be delivered this season. The wreaths are donated by sponsors from across the country, delivered by truckers, and laid at the graves of veterans by WAA volunteers.
Wreaths Across America
Transportation companies interested in joining the Honor Fleet can visit the WAA website to find an open lane or contact the WAA transportation team at trucking@wreathsacrossamerica.org for more information.
Krish Nathan is the Americas CEO for SDI Element Logic, a provider of turnkey automation solutions and sortation systems. Nathan joined SDI Industries in 2000 and honed his project management and engineering expertise in developing and delivering complex material handling solutions. In 2014, he was appointed CEO, and in 2022, he led the search for a strategic partner that could expand SDI’s capabilities. This culminated in the acquisition of SDI by Element Logic, with SDI becoming the Americas branch of the company.
A native of the U.K., Nathan received his bachelor’s degree in manufacturing engineering from Coventry University and has studied executive leadership at Cranfield University.
Q: How would you describe the current state of the supply chain industry?
A: We see the supply chain industry as very dynamic and exciting, both from a growth perspective and from an innovation perspective. The pandemic hangover is still impacting decisions to nearshore, and that has resulted in a spike in business for us in both the USA and Mexico. Adding new technology to our portfolio has been a significant contributor to our continued expansion.
Q: Distributors were making huge tech investments during the pandemic simply to keep up with soaring consumer demand. How have things changed since then?
A: The consumer demand for e-commerce certainly appears to have cooled since the pandemic high, but our clients continue to see steady growth. Growth, combined with low unemployment and high labor costs, continues to make automation a good investment for many companies.
Q: Robotics are still in high demand for material handling applications. What are some of the benefits of these systems?
A: As an organization, we are investing heavily in software that will allow Element Logic to offer solutions for robotic picking that are hardware-agnostic. We have had success deploying unit picking for order fulfillment solutions and unit placing of items onto tray-based sorters.
From a benefit point of view, we’ve seen the consistency of a given operation improve. For example, the placement accuracy of a product onto a tray is far higher from a robotic arm than from a person. In order fulfillment applications, two of the biggest benefits are reliability and hours of operation. The robots don't call in sick, and they are happy to work 22 hours a day!
Q: SDI Element Logic offers a wide range of automated solutions, including automated storage and sortation equipment. What criteria should distributors use to determine what type of system is right for them?
A: There are a significant number of factors to consider when thinking about automation. In my experience, automation pays for itself in three key ways: It saves space, it increases the efficiency of labor, and it improves accuracy. So evaluating which of these will be [most] beneficial and quantifying the associated savings will lead to a “right sized” investment in technology.
Another important factor to consider is product mix. With a small SKU (stock-keeping unit) base, often automation doesn’t make sense. And with a huge SKU base, there will be products that don’t lend themselves to automation.
With any significant investment, you need to partner with an organization that has deep experience with the technologies that are being considered and … in-depth knowledge of the process that is being automated.
Q: How can a goods-to-person system reduce the amount of labor needed to fill orders?
A: In most order picking operations, there is a considerable amount of walking between pick faces to find the SKUs associated with a given order or set of orders. Goods-to-person eliminates the walking and allows the operator to just pick. I have seen studies that [show] that 75% of the time [required] to assemble an order in a manual picking environment is walking or “non-picking” time. So eliminating walking will reduce the amount of labor needed.
The goods-to-person approach also fits perfectly with robotic picking, so even the actual picking aspect of order assembly can be automated in some instances. For these reasons, [automation offers] a significant opportunity to reduce the labor needed to fulfill a customer order.
Q: If you could pick one thing a company should do to improve its distribution center operations, what would it be?
A: Evaluate. Evaluate the opportunities for improving by considering automation. In my experience, the challenge most companies have is recognizing that automation is an alternative. The barrier to entry is far lower than most people think!
Toyota Material Handling and its nationwide network of dealers showcased their commitment to improving their local communities during the company’s annual “Lift the Community Day.” Since 2021, Toyota associates have participated in an annual day-long philanthropic event held near Toyota’s Columbus, Indiana, headquarters. This year, the initiative expanded to include participation from Toyota’s dealers, increasing the impact on communities throughout the U.S. A total of 324 Toyota associates completed 2,300 hours of community service during this year’s event.
The PMMI Foundation, the charitable arm of PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, awarded nearly $200,000 in scholarships to students pursuing careers in the packaging and processing industry. Each year, the PMMI Foundation provides academic scholarships to students studying packaging, food processing, and engineering to underscore its commitment to the future of the packaging and processing industry.
Truck leasing and fleet management services provider Fleet Advantage hosted its “Kids Around the Corner Foundation” back-to-school backpack drive in July. During the event, company associates assembled 200 backpacks filled with essential school supplies for high school-age students. The backpacks were then delivered to Henderson Behavioral Health’s Youth & Family Services location in Tamarac, Florida.
For the past seven years, third-party logistics service specialist ODW Logistics has provided logistics support for the Pelotonia Ride Weekend, a campaign to raise funds for cancer research at The Ohio State University’s Comprehensive Cancer Center–Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute. As in the past, ODW provided inventory management services and transportation for the riders’ bicycles at this year’s event. In all, some 7,000 riders and 3,000 volunteers participated in the ride weekend.