SSI Schäfer Sets Up Commissioning Warehouse for Transmec in Italy

The Italian logistics service provider Transmec receives a complete solution from SSI Schäfer, consisting of precisely coordinated robots, shelves, containers, workstations, and software. The commissioning warehouse, built by SSI Schäfer as the general contractor, has 13,000 shelf spaces, which are fully automated by 15 RunBots and RackBots. As the mobile robots operate as an intelligent swarm, Transmec maximizes the availability of its new goods warehouse.

(Neunkirchen/Campogalliano) With over 800,000 m² of warehouses and storage spaces, the Transmec Group is one of the largest logistics service providers in Europe. For a long time, the 3PL (Third Party Logistics Provider), founded in 1850, focused on supply chain management for business customers (B2B). Since the pandemic years, the business with end consumers (B2C) has also gained significant importance. With the opening of the first commissioning warehouse at the company’s headquarters in Campogalliano, Italy, Transmec’s warehouse division T-Log now combines both distribution worlds under one roof.

“In recent years, we have seen significant changes in the market. This includes the rise of online shopping and the increasing demand for fast deliveries,” explains Simone Corradini, Managing Director of the T-Log warehouse division. “Together with the ongoing shortage of skilled workers, this forces companies to restructure their logistics and introduce more agile distribution models.”

One of Transmec’s central value propositions is to create powerful solutions to meet even the most complex customer requirements in a market-oriented manner. Automation potentials are to be utilized as soon as it is economically viable. “We do this by investing in know-how and innovation. The new RackBot System Compact is a very good example of this,” says Chiara Zoccoli, Project Manager at T-Log.

Transmec demonstrated its innovative spirit by opting for the new RackBot System COMPACT, which had never been installed in Europe before. “With this complete solution, we have managed to build a robot-supported omnichannel warehouse within a few months that we can use across customers and industries,” says Chiara Zoccoli.

13,000 double-deep shelf spaces

The commissioning warehouse has a height of 10.3 meters and offers 13,000 double-deep shelf spaces. All inbound and outbound operations are handled by a fully integrated swarm of 15 mobile robots with different capabilities. Specifically, there are 10 RunBots that perform all horizontal transports and 5 RackBots that service the shelves.

The roaming concept of the robot fleet allows each device to operate throughout the robotics zone of the warehouse. Aisle changes are therefore possible at any time. And if a robot is temporarily unavailable, for example, because its battery is being charged, the others can take over its tasks. The comprehensive roaming leads to top performance in terms of system availability.

SSI Schäfer has seamlessly integrated the commissioning warehouse, protected by a safety fence, into the material flow of the hall. The storage is connected via conveyor technology, which directs the goods in containers to the RunBots. Behind a safety lock, the RunBots pick up the containers and transport them to one of the 360 buffer locations. There, the goods are taken over by the RackBots and brought to their storage locations in the shelving warehouse.

The outbound process occurs in exactly the opposite way: The RackBots retrieve the containers to be picked from the shelves and transport them to the buffer locations, from where the RunBots deliver the goods to one of the two picking stations. The stations consist of specially protected work tables that are embedded in the safety fence of the robotics warehouse. Once a RunBot is positioned under one of these tables, its safety lock opens, allowing employees to access the containers of the parked transport robot. A monitor informs them of the order in which to pick, scan, and place the delivered goods into the immediately adjacent flow racks. A put-to-light system attached to the shelves indicates to the pickers where to place the goods.

125 containers per hour are processed

Currently, up to 125 containers per hour can be processed per workstation. Additional picking stations can be integrated at any time. At the same time, Transmec can also increase the number of RunBots and RackBots, allowing for flexible capacity increases of the system. After a short parameterization, the robots are fully operational. The shelving system itself can also be quickly expanded at any time due to its modular design.

The construction and commissioning of the commissioning warehouse took a total of eight weeks. SSI Schäfer managed all trades from a single source. The underlying layout of the system was also developed by SSI Schäfer.

Particular attention was paid to software integration. An interface environment was created that allows Transmec to flexibly integrate the warehouse management systems (WMS) of its customers. As a result, incoming customer orders now automatically lead to orders for the RackBot System COMPACT, and all necessary work steps are optimally sequenced. Furthermore, the risk of picking errors is reduced to nearly zero, and delivery reliability increases significantly.

The RackBot warehouse has been in operation since the end of October 2024. “We deliberately chose an online retailer as our first customer. This way, we had two opportunities for stress tests with Black Friday and the Christmas business, which the robot-based goods warehouse handled very well,” summarizes project manager Chiara Zoccoli, adding: “After these positive experiences, we took on an automotive company as our second customer in January.”

Only three months of ramp-up time

“After only three months of ramp-up time, we have achieved our goal and created a powerful omnichannel solution,” confirms T-Log’s Managing Director Simone Corradini, who is already looking at expanding the new robotics warehouse: “Together with SSI Schäfer, we are examining which additional solutions are suitable for integration into the RackBot System. The goal is to further increase the utilization of the system and provide our customers with even better service.”

Photo: © SSI Schäfer