EDEKA Group Relies on WITRON-OPM for the Eighth Time

The EDEKA Group is realizing a new logistics center in Marktredwitz. WITRON Logistik + Informatik GmbH from Parkstein is responsible as the logistics lifetime partner for the complete planning, implementation, and commissioning. The facility is designed for a peak picking performance of 583,000 picking units daily. Commissioning is planned for 2024.

(Parkstein/Marktredwitz) It is a flagship project that is currently being built and will commence operations in mid-2024 – both technologically and economically. The new logistics center of EDEKA Handelsgesellschaft Nordbayern-Sachsen-Thüringen mbH on the A 93 near Marktredwitz will supply around 900 stores in parts of Franconia, the Upper Palatinate, Saxony, and Thuringia with almost 28,000 different items from the dry assortment, fruits, vegetables, delicatessen products, frozen goods, and flowers. The approximately 100,000 m² large facility is designed for a peak picking performance of 583,000 picking units daily. Distributed across all logistics areas are 66,000 pallet spaces, 730,000 container and tray spaces, as well as 139 stacker cranes interconnected through an efficient material flow – intelligently controlled by forward-looking logistics and IT systems.

Eighth OPM Warehouse

As already seen in the EDEKA distribution centers in Hamm, Oberhausen, Landsberg, Zarrentin, and Berbersdorf, as well as in the NETTO distribution centers in Erharting and Henstedt, WITRON Logistik + Informatik GmbH from Parkstein is responsible as the logistics lifetime partner for the complete planning, implementation, and commissioning. This also includes the design and realization of all IT, control, and mechanical components. Furthermore, a WITRON onsite team takes care of service, maintenance, and a consistently high availability of the facility directly on site. A future expansion of the Marktredwitz location is already planned in the current logistics planning. “The investment secures not only a multitude of jobs in Marktredwitz itself but also far beyond the region. It simultaneously stands for a long-term good and reliable supply of people, especially in our rural region in the Free State of Bavaria,” says Rainer Kämpgen, Logistics Board Member of EDEKA Nordbayern-Sachsen-Thüringen.

Seamless Integration

“WITRON’s task was to develop a solution with holistic continuity – both technologically and economically,” explains Kämpgen. “Seamless within the internal supply chain – from goods receipt to goods dispatch. Seamless within the external supply chain – from the supplier, through the distribution center, transport to the stores. Seamless regarding temperature zones and product groups: dry, fresh, delicatessen, fruits, vegetables, frozen. Seamless regarding the units to be picked and load carriers: piece picking, case picking, containers, half pallets, full pallets, roll containers, and isotainers. WITRON has convincingly succeeded in this,” says the EDEKA representative.

High Degree of Automation for Fruits, Vegetables, and Delicatessen Products

Similar to the Berbersdorf location, EDEKA in Marktredwitz relies again on a fully automated system from WITRON for the distribution of sensitive fruit and vegetable products. This makes it possible to effectively relieve logistics employees from unergonomic tasks in a temperature-controlled working environment. More than 1,000 different products are stored there in a temperature range between +7 degrees Celsius and +10 degrees Celsius.

The logistical centerpiece of the fruit and vegetable area is the intelligent and modularly designed WITRON Automated Tote System (ATS) with nine stacker cranes and 42,500 container spaces. Plastic boxes of sizes 600 x 400 mm and 400 x 300 mm are used. With the ATS, containers (towers) filled with goods by the supplier are automatically received, de-stacked, buffered, picked, stacked according to customer or store requirements onto a shipping unit, and prepared for delivery.

Over 3,500 different delicatessen items, such as ready meals, salad menus, or convenience products, are picked by the WITRON-OPM technology in the temperature range of +4 degrees Celsius/+6 degrees Celsius with six COM machines, store-compliant and without personnel involvement on pallets or roll containers. Additionally, the semi-automated CPS system (Car Picking System) is used in this product area. With CPS, the items are placed in the pick front as needed by stacker cranes and subsequently removed by logistics employees.

Module Mix Ensures High Flexibility in the Dry Assortment

With over 65 percent of all picked units, the dry assortment represents the most throughput-intensive product range. Here, fully or partially automated systems handle the management of trade units, individual item picking, and the store-compliant assembly of display pallets with maximum efficiency.

An OPM system with 18 COM machines, an all-in-one order fulfillment system (AIO) with 20 ergonomic piece-picking workstations, a car-picking system (CPS) for the semi-automated picking of heavy or bulky products, and a display pallet picking system (DPP), which assembles customer orders consisting of different half and quarter pallets in a separate high-bay warehouse, will be installed.

All orders of the dry assortment are consolidated by a fully automated goods dispatch buffer, which provides not only the pallets and roll containers of the dry assortment but also frozen isotainers just-in-time for delivery via heavy-duty lanes, sorted according to unloading points for the loading personnel.

Frozen Goods, Flowers, and Bananas with Pick-by-Voice

Supported by a pick-by-voice system and controlled by a WITRON WMS, flowers and frozen goods are stored and picked in Marktredwitz. The picking of frozen goods occurs at -18 degrees Celsius or -22 degrees Celsius directly in isotainers.

Technology by People for People

“In line with the credo ‘Technology by people for people’, it is always the goal for EDEKA and WITRON to focus on the five key topics – service level for the markets, economic efficiency, people, sustainability, and flexibility – when using the latest logistics technology,” explains Logistics Board Member Kämpgen. “In terms of service level, EDEKA retailers and all consumers benefit primarily regarding premium customer service – enabled by holistic economic processes within the internal and external logistics supply chain.

In terms of people, employees in the stores benefit from highly efficient goods handling due to store-compliant picked load carriers, and of course, all employees in the EDEKA logistics centers benefit from ergonomic, future-oriented workplaces,” explains Kämpgen. “The topic of sustainability is addressed in various ways – e.g., through significant CO² savings due to tightly packed load carriers, optimal truck utilization, and fewer truck trips. Furthermore, through space savings in construction, as well as through significant reductions in surplus goods, breakage, and waste. Additionally, flexibility and expandability ensure future viability, allowing for quick and flexible responses to constantly changing market demands.”

Photo: © Edeka / Caption: After the contract signing (from left to right): Sebastian Kohrmann (Chairman of the Board EDEKA Nordbayern-Sachsen-Thüringen), Helmut Prieschenk (Managing Director WITRON Logistik + Informatik), Rainer Kämpgen (Board Member EDEKA Nordbayern-Sachsen-Thüringen), Johannes Schweiger (Managing Director WITRON Service)