Norwegian Grocer COOP to significantly expand DC with WITRON

The Norwegian food retailer COOP is significantly expanding its central goods distribution center in cooperation with WITRON. COOP awarded the contract to WITRON based on the tremendous success COOP has experienced with the facility's existing WITRON systems. The 559,700 sq. ft. DC located near the Oslo airport has successfully been supplying more than 1,200 stores throughout Norway with 17,000+ different dry, fresh, and frozen goods. Upon completion in May 2022, the DC will be 904,100 sq. ft. and have a total order picking volume of 600,000 cases. The expanded facility will feature a total of 42 WITRON COM machines, extra automated pallet aisles, tray AS/RS aisles, stacker cranes, and conveyor system components operating in all temperature zones. The capacity of the fully automated shipping buffer will also be doubled.

"The simple scalability and expandability of the WITRON systems was already an important decision point when we started to design the logistics center," said Halvor Nassvik, Senior Project Manager at COOP. WITRON systems have been providing COOP with error-free order picking, densely packed order pallets, order consolidation, maximum use of trailer space, and ergonomic work processes since the existing facility was opened in 2014.

"Our distribution center supplies all COOP stores throughout Norway - from large, heavily frequented supermarkets in the city regions down to very small stores in the far north - 1,200 miles away from the logistics center. Therefore, the supply chain is subject to numerous fluctuations: Purchasing behavior, order quantities, climatic conditions, and routes that our trailers have to cover", said Roger Nyeng, Logistics Director at COOP. COOP requires a completely networked process that reacts quickly in real-time to changing conditions of the market, and to the supply chain. The addition of WITRON's Warehouse Management System will help COOP meet these demands.

"If a trailer is stuck in traffic, it must be possible to flexibly change the pick sequence at short notice. If extreme weather conditions are forecasted in the winter and customers tend to stock up, it must be possible to guarantee unplanned order peaks through flexible machine occupation. When the business in the stores calms down during the summer months, the system provides support by means of flexible personnel planning or defines pro-active maintenance cycles", explains the Logistics Director. "Based on a large amount of data, the WITRON system provides our logistics staff suggestions for actions as to how we can optimally operate the plant in terms of optimized warehouse intelligence."

More Info: https://www.witron.de/en/