Witron, a supply chain integrator specializing in warehouse automation, promoted its capabilities in supporting e-commerce fulfillment at the ProMat trade show in Chicago this week.

Most recently, the company has been helping the food industry catch up to the many other sectors that have already begun the great migration from brick-and-mortar stores to an online economy. The company expects a significant increase in the volume of edible items being purchased online in the coming years, said Norman Leonhardt, Witron's business development manager.

Witron is supporting this move with its new Food Multi-Channel (FMC) initiative to help improve efficiency across all food retail distribution channels, focused on highly dynamic distribution points such as drive-throughs, pickup points, and darkstores—those retail outlets or distribution centers that cater exclusively to online shopping.

Witron's solution is the DDS (Drive Darkstore System), an automated solution that handles the unique challenges involved in these channels, such as easily perishable goods or end-customers who are not at home when the goods arrive.

Sophisticated logistics allow online grocers to solve these puzzles through central warehousing and automated fulfillment with specialized strategies such as an AS/RS divided into different temperature zones, and order picking separated into fast- and slow-mover areas.