Kaufland decided to apply automated logistics solutions. An automatic groupage warehouse was developed in the company’s complex Distribution Centre in Wola Krzysztoporska. This allowed increasing the operational capacity of the network’s central warehouse. Kaufland has two hundred stores in Poland.
Modern logistic centers, which have to continuously deal with an abundance of orders, require storage systems that ensure continuous availability of all articles. Automatic warehouses for groupage products enable compact storage and preparation of goods and thus obtain relatively high-performance in order picking a large number of small articles.
Goods are automatically transported to persons responsible for picking through automated equipment and in accordance with the „goods to man” principle.
The recently-launched Kaufland Distribution Center is one of the most modern facilities in Europe (the warehouse located in the Wola Krzysztoporska is one of the three distribution centers of Kaufland supermarket chain in Poland).
Faster completion thanks to the automatic release of goods
The warehouse provides 9,200 sqm of space. It has been equipped with 128,000 special containers for storing various types of goods. The newly installed automatic machine has three acceptance and two release tracks. Storage and removal of goods from the warehouse takes place with the aid of devices dedicated to handling the racks. In this case, placement of the goods in the components part as well as collecting them and transferring to the picking area is conducted by 120 special, shuttle-operating unmanned wagons.
Photo: Kaufland
Due to the specific nature of goods stored in the warehouse as well as the requirements of their customers, completion is of crucial importance. It is performed on six specially dedicated workstations on which orders are prepared for dispatching from the warehouse.
Hence, thanks to the automation, the pace of work at each completion position is enormous and amounts even up to 600 packages per hour. Therefore, in total more than 3,500 packages with goods can be prepared for dispatching each hour, giving a daily capacity of up to 75,000 packages. This a number three times higher than the results from before the warehouse’s re-development.
Application of plastic grid pallets for distribution reduces the loss of goods in transit and yields a positive impact on environmental protection. The accumulation of large numbers of indexes on relatively small space allows for more convenient deployment of the remaining goods, resulting thus in performance improvements in other areas of the warehouse.
Labor organization and performance are controlled by an information system. The control software ensures comprehensive process organization and convenient access to individual articles.
Our investment in an automated groupage warehouse is a response to the requirements set by the market. The solutions we use help employees in the production process, significantly increasing their efficiency. Importantly, the physical workplaces in our new warehouse have been designed based on the latest ergonomic solutions. Process automation is a natural stage in the development of logistics. We want to remain a leader in the market, which is why we are investing gradually in modern technologies” – asserts Mateusz Staniszewski, the director of the Kaufland Distribution Centre in Wola Krzysztoporska.
Photo: YouTube/Owl Studio