Schwarz Group-owned retailer Kaufland has announced that the warehouse processes at its logistics centre in Geisenfeld are now largely fully automated.
This comes after more than three years of expansion and a successful ramp-up phase.
'Modern Logistics Centre'
"We have gradually introduced new technologies into the individual warehouse sections over the past few years," said Konrad Ott, automation project manager, Geisenfeld.
"Geisenfeld is now home to one of the most modern logistics centres in the German food retail sector."
At the warehouse, small shuttle vehicles glide automatically along their long tracks and store and retrieve goods.
Additionally, robot arms pack pallets as needed for around 125 Kaufland branches in southern Germany.
These are assisted by autonomous transport units, which bring ready-picked pallets to the goods dispatch area.
Retrieval Machines
Up to 185,000 packages are picked automatically in the food section. This means that after delivery, the pallets are automatically placed in the high-bay warehouse by storage and retrieval machines and stored there until needed.
Twelve robot grippers then assemble the pallets for each store. They arrange the goods in such a way that the employees in the store can put them away in the correct order.
The pallets are packed and wrapped fully automatically and then transported in the correct order towards the goods exit via autonomous transport vehicles. The transport robots use sensors, cameras and motor technologies that help them to follow the optimal route safely.
'Fully Automated'
"You can't transform a logistics location overnight. That's why we made the conscious decision years ago to convert our location in Geisenfeld into an almost fully automated high-tech warehouse," said Ott. "The technology and robotics were developed and integrated specifically for each location."
