Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc. (AWG) is building a state-of-the-art, highly automated, full-range logistics centre in Hernando, Mississippi, in association with WITRON Logistik + Informatik GmbH.
Headquartered in Kansas City, Kansas (USA), AWG is the largest cooperative food wholesaler in the United States, with sales of more than $10 billion.
The facility, expected to be operational by August 2023, will supply goods to more than 3,100 grocery stores, owned and operated by independent retailers.
David Smith, CEO of AWG, said, "The new automated facility will be a critical component to significantly expand variety offerings and improve distribution and logistics performance. It will enable AWG and its over 1,100 cooperative member-retailers to continue to grow for many, many years to come.”
Almost 55,000 different items will be stored and picked with the OPM (Order Picking Machinery), AIO (All-in-One-Order Fulfilment), and CPS (Car Picking System) solutions.
The 81,000 square-metre facility, with around 738,000 pallet, tote, and tray locations, 92 stacker cranes, and 11 kilometres of conveyor system, is designed for a pick performance of more than 460,000 units/day.
It will also feature 18 fully-automated COM (Case Order Machine) in temperature areas of +20 to -26 degrees Celsius to stack cases onto pallets in a store-friendly manner.
Large-volume items will be picked in various temperature zones with route optimisation using pick-by-voice support from the semi-automated logistics module, CPS.
Due to a wide range of small-volume items, AWG has decided to use the AIO system for the dry assortment. Order consolidation is automated and system-controlled in AIO.
Smith concluded, “WITRON is an established and strong partner, which has the necessary know-how and worldwide references to successfully implement a project of this dimension.
"WITRON impressed us with innovative ideas, technology, and the people and values behind the company and the project.”
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