Companies running large warehouses are looking for ways to improve performance and increase efficiency, all while dealing with unrelenting market pressures such as a labor shortage and space constraints. For many companies, warehouse automation is the answer to those problems. Material handling technology and equipment providers are stepping up with new and innovative solutions every day, as evidenced by an expected increase in demand for automated warehouse equipment over the next couple of years, according to late 2023 research from consulting firm Interact Analysis. The firm expects demand to reach double-digit levels in 2025. A separate study from earlier this year—by supply chain software developer Descartes Systems Group—found that more than half of supply chain and logistics leaders are focused on automating nonvalue-added and repetitive tasks to improve productivity.
For those reasons and more, automation is on the front burner at large distribution centers around the world. Here’s a look at how a Spanish frozen-food company tackled its warehouse productivity challenges with a high-tech solution designed to streamline operations and prepare for growth.
BIGGER, BETTER, FASTER—BY DESIGN
No stranger to warehouse automation, Spanish frozen-food company Virto Group wanted to increase storage capacity, efficiency, and performance when it set out to build a large, automated warehouse in Northern Spain. The company—which sells frozen vegetables to retailers, restaurants, and others in the food-service industry—already operated smaller automated warehouses but wanted to add a larger, high-bay warehouse that could store and manage higher volumes of produce to meet market demand. Company leaders also wanted a system that would boost the agility and speed of the facility’s order fulfillment process.
What they needed was “maximum automation,” according to Juan Virto, industrial director of the 40-year-old, family-run business. Virto Group turned to material handling automation specialist Swisslog and its PowerStore solution to tackle the challenge. Virto Group and Swisslog described the project in a case history published earlier this year.
PowerStore is a high-density automated pallet shuttle system designed for high-throughput, low-mix operations. The modular system allows for storage of up to 60% more pallets compared to traditional manual pallet racking and can be designed to fit warehouses of any shape or size, according to Swisslog. And because it can operate in low temperatures—as cold as -30 degrees Celsius (-22 degrees Fahrenheit)—it was the perfect solution for Virto Group’s temperature-controlled operations.
Virto Group’s rack-supported warehouse covers 118,000 square feet and is approximately 125 feet high. The PowerStore system includes 31 shuttles, or “AisleCarriers,” that are equipped with additional, smaller vehicles called “RowCarriers.” In this “parent/child” configuration, the shuttles travel throughout the system to move pallets in and out of a storage grid, which consists of 10 levels.
It works like this: Elevators move each pallet vertically through the system, placing it on a shuttle that then transports it down the aisle until it reaches the correct storage row. At this point, the RowCarrier completes the last leg of the journey, detaching itself from the AisleCarrier to deliver the pallet to the correct storage position; the RowCarrier then returns to the AisleCarrier for the next move. The system works pretty much the same way for pallet retrieval: The AisleCarriers move through the system to the correct storage location, dispatching the RowCarrier to retrieve pallets and convey them to a pickup point, where they are prepared for delivery.
Virto Group’s system includes 14 elevators, two inverted monorail conveyor loops for entering and exiting the system, a dispatch buffer that can accommodate 204 pallets, and conveyors that connect the system’s various functional areas—inputs, outputs, production, and so on, according to the two companies. The system manages a flow of 350 pallets per hour and can store approximately 57,000 European-style pallets (the equivalent of 48,000 American pallets). This allows Virto Group to stock between 50 million and 70 million kilos (roughly 110 million to 150 million pounds) of deep-frozen product. Swisslog’s SynQ warehouse management software (WMS) manages the flow of goods through the facility and optimizes the storage process.
The system is allowing “faster and more thorough preparation of orders, an increase in storage capacity and performance, [and] an increase in our overall efficiency,” according to Juan Virto.
And that’s the name of the game when it comes to warehouse automation—and the reason for an expected increase in tech investment in the years ahead, especially as labor challenges persist worldwide. Warehouse operations were cited as the top area for technology investment to mitigate labor challenges, according to the 2024 Descartes study.
Picking made easier, thanks to automation design
French grocery retailer Carrefour is turning to automation to meet the demands of a changing workforce and business climate. The company embarked on a digital transformation plan in 2022 that encompasses a wide range of projects, including one at its logistics hub in Bourges, France, where it hired fellow French firm Fives Group to automate order picking tasks that were previously done by hand. Fives is a global industrial engineering firm that designs smart automation systems for the manufacturing industry as well as for warehousing and distribution center logistics operations. Up and running since late May, Carrefour’s new system is speeding the sorting and picking of fresh grocery items—and creating a more efficient, worker-friendly environment at the same time.
The 66,000-square-meter (roughly 710,000-square-foot) Bourges facility is part of a network of logistics centers that supply Carrefour’s stores throughout Europe. The facility serves roughly 100 stores, including traditional markets and “hypermarkets”—large retail stores that combine a supermarket and retail store under one roof. Fives designed one of the facility’s 11 cells—one dedicated to picking orders for fresh produce, including fruits and vegetables; seafood; grocery; and brewery items.
The project started with the implementation of Fives’ warehouse management software (WMS), which has streamlined the order process and minimized the risk of errors—helped largely by the system’s end-to-end traceability of goods, operators, and processes. A high-capacity cross-belt sorter is also boosting productivity: It automatically sorts parcels that were previously sorted by hand and conveys them to prep stations, where workers then pick the parcels directly to final pallets for delivery to stores. The system sorts 8,500 parcels per hour. In addition, ergonomically designed palletizing stations are reducing strain and fatigue by allowing workers to pick parcels from a physically safe and proper height.
Fives says automation demand remains strong and adds that the company has completed 15 similar projects across France for other large distribution center customers.
