DAIFUKU Expands Warehouse Facilities of NETTO A/S

MÖNCHENGLADBACH. “The objectives of this follow-up project include the expansion of warehousing capacity as well as the optimisation of processes to meet the greatly increased demands. The tight timeframe for the conversion of existing warehousing technology and the need to complete this without affecting ongoing operation presents a particular challenge.” notes Matthias Brehm, Project Manager at DAIFUKU. Among other things, the concept includes the installation of an automated high-bay warehouse for nonperishable foods, wine and spirits, bakery items as well as non-food articles. Comprising of eight additional aisles, with room for 6,498 pallets, in a footprint of 2,080 m², the system will employ eight DAIFUKU model R-L3 storage and retrieval machines. In future, this new warehouse will serve as a prepackaging facility and shipping buffer. “The current situation is such that due to the large increase in the quantities of goods handled, the existing shipping paths can barely keep pace with shipping needs. Trucks frequently experience loading delays and this is where the new shipping buffer will provide assistance.” states Andreas Jablowski, Senior Engineer at DAIFUKU. The warehouse with its 23 aisles will continue to operate to meet the existing demand, but will now be optimized by the addition of eight extra aisles. This will provide appreciable relief to the equipment as a whole, ensuring adequate time for planned maintenance work and system care.

So that processes in the two warehouses can be seamlessly combined, DAIFUKU will also expand the existing tilt tray sorter – which is currently operating three shifts per day, seven days a week – by an adding 28 further chutes, each with its own packing area. Beyond this, DAIFUKU will create a bypass, utilizing conventional conveyor technology, to ensure the necessary level of system redundancy. Due to the extremely high sorter load, a very small window over a weekend was agreed for the modifications to eliminate the need for operational interruptions. An equally small time window was allowed for connecting the eight new warehouse aisles to the existing sorting transfer vehicle (STV) loop. Based on the rapid travel rates of the rail-mounted vehicles, combined with the newly refined material flow, the STV loop will continue to function with the same number of vehicles.

The delivery scope also includes an entirely new picking area which includes the following components: three manually operated handling units for quarter pallets, 24 gravity roller lanes, one automatic foil wrapper, as well as an automatic pallet profile checking system. “With regard to the highly increased demands, this warehouse expansion and process optimization will allow NETTO to reduce its warehouse operation from three to two shifts” reports Andreas Jablowski.