At the end of December 2023, Mercadona selected the WITRON Group to construct its new 15,000-square-metre dry goods distribution centre in Guadix, Granada, in southern Spain.
This is the 16th automated logistics centre that WITRON is designing and realising for Mercadona. In summary, it features a total of 203 COM machines, in the dry, fresh, and frozen food sectors.
Commencing operations in 2026, the highly-automated facility will supply more than 90 of the Spanish food retailer's stores with more than 4,000 items.
Since the beginning of 2021, Mercadona has been operating a modern frozen food logistics centre at the Guadix site, which was also designed and implemented by WITRON.
As a general contractor, WITRON is responsible for the design and implementation of all IT and mechanical components.
All conveyor system elements and stacker cranes are designed and manufactured by WITRON.
Picking Capacity Of Over 120,000 Cases Per Day
The store-friendly and error-free picking of up to 120,600 cases daily onto customer pallets is done by a WITRON OPM system with 12 COM machines.
A four-aisle automated pallet high bay warehouse with 5,600 storage locations, as well as an automated tray warehouse with 24 miniloads and 143,200 storage locations, are installed in front of the OPM.
Efficient Real-Time Logistics Network
All material flow processes are optimised by a high-performance WITRON warehouse management system. This web-based software suite stands for holistic networking and transparency, both vertically between all system levels and horizontally within the entire supply chain.
The result is a high level of 'warehouse intelligence', which means the creation of a real-time logistics network that connects all 'players' directly with each other, allowing changes to flow dynamically and seamlessly into the logistics process.
In addition, the software suite guarantees a high degree of usability and user experience, individually adapted to the tasks of the respective workers.
Twenty Years Of Successful Partnership
Alberto Garcia Pardo, key account manager at WITRON, stated, "The fact that a demanding customer like Mercadona has trusted WITRON as a lifetime partner for 20 years makes us very proud. Mercadona places high expectations on the store service, cost-efficiency, availability, ergonomics, and sustainability of our solutions."
Pardo added, "In addition, Mercadona consistently lives by the same values as WITRON: being credible and keeping promises – to customers and employees. The new order is an incentive to remain an innovative and reliable partner for Mercadona in the future. Because credibility is crucial for long-term cooperation – between people and companies."
This article was written in partnership with WITRON.
