Vanderlande has signed a contract with Dutch organic food retailer Udea to deliver a state-of-the-art goods-to-person ADAPTO solution.
The automated storage and retrieval system will be one of the largest of its kind that Vanderlande has supplied to date, and it will be housed in Udea’s new distribution centre in Veghel, the Netherlands.
Construction of the facility will commence in June 2018, and the system is expected to go live at the end of 2019.
Growth Strategy
Udea is a wholesaler, importer and exporter of organic groceries and franchisor of the organic supermarket chain Ekoplaza. Due to continued growth, and following on from a number of recent acquisitions, Udea took the opportunity to reconsider its processes.
Due to the diversity of its product flows, including dry, ambient, chilled, fresh and frozen goods, Udea chose to automate its processes at a single, omnichannel food DC. This will also factor in the deliveries that it makes to Ekoplaza, as well as its e-commerce activities for consumers.
Udea’s ADAPTO system at the Veghel Foodpark will use double-deep storage and provide a high throughput of fast-moving goods. Alongside its eight ergonomic decanting stations, there will be 11 picking stations, at which operators can select both consumer and store orders.
Vanderlande is also installing SIR (smart-item robotics), responsible for automatically picking of health-care and cosmetic products.
Uniquely for the food market, Udea will be the first to integrate multiple temperature areas within the ADAPTO racking, which will save a large amount of space.
Strong Cooperation
“It’s especially pleasing for us to be working with Udea, who are close neighbours to us here in Veghel,” says Vanderlande’s Managing Director, Tjarko Bouman. “Both companies can be proud of the level of cooperation so far, and the project is also an excellent opportunity to gain even more experience of our robotic solutions in a food retail environment.”
Udea’s General Manager, Erik Does, added that the company chose ADAPTO because "it is a solution that can grow alongside our business activities".
"It was especially satisfying for us to take part in this initial process alongside Vanderlande because they showcased a business case that featured exciting new insights and possibilities. As a result, we will soon have access to a flexible and scalable system that we can expand as and when required," Does added.
For more information, visit www.vanderlande.com.
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