German Wholesale Grocery Giant Expands DC with WITRON

The leading grocery wholesaler in northern Germany, EDEKA Nord (Neumuenster, Germany), has expanded their state-of-the-art logistics center in Zarrentin. WITRON (Parkstein, Germany) played an instrumental role in the expansion, by installing and integrating two additional WITRON Case Order machines (COM). All work was completed during full DC operations, thanks to WITRON's modular expandability and the EDEKA's pre-engineered facility growth plan.

The addition of two COMs will be complemented by four additional stacker cranes, 45,000 storage locations in the automated tray warehouse and a fully automated stretch-wrapper when the full expansion is completed at the end of Q3 / 2019. Upon completion, EDEKA Nord will have a total of 16 Case Order Machines in operation, providing fully automated case picking onto pallets and roll containers. This will result in a significant increase in pick volume capacity and order throughput.

The facility incorporates three WITRON picking modules: Order Picking Machinery (OPM), Dynamic Picking System (DPS) and Display Pallet Picking System (DPP) to maximize efficiency and streamline logistics. A fully automated shipping buffer optimizes the dispatch process. Additionally, an automated empties buffer will control the flow and return of empty pallets and roll containers to the system.

Image caption: EDEKA's automated DC featuring WITRON picking modules.

More Info: http://www.witron.com