Swisslog implements turnkey facility for leading European retailer
October 1st 2010 In partnership with Swisslog, leading European retailer dmdrogerie
markt has successfully commissioned its new
logistics centre in Weilerswist, Germany. Swisslog's services in
connection with the new facility included planning and
constructing the turnkey logistics centre, installing automation
and supplying material flow software. Swisslog was responsible
for building the different logistics areas, integrating all storage
and material handling solutions and also implementing the
material flow control systems within the distribution centre.
DM- selected Swisslog to build the new facility having already
worked with them for their distribution centre in nearby
Waghäusel back in 2003 and 2004. "We were able to prove yet
again that Swisslog is the ideal partner when it comes to the
planning and implementation of complex logistics projects" said
Severin Gutzwiller, Project Manager at Swisslog.
State-of-the-art Technology
Together with the existing distribution centre in Waghäusel, the
new centre supplies all dm- stores with products on mixed pallets
at the rate of approximately 3,000 pallets per day. The combined
distribution centre is divided into a picking warehouse for carton
goods, a picking warehouse for small goods, storage preparation
and a high-bay warehouse.
The picking warehouse for carton goods has approximately
20,000 pallet locations and is equipped with 13 automated pallet
handling cranes. As in the case of the retailer's distribution centre
in Waghäusel, the Swisslog CaddyPick™ solution is also used
here; a semi-automated case order-picking system typically
applied in the retail industry.
52 miniload cranes operate within the picking
warehouse for small goods. This warehouse has 140,000
bin locations, including an allocation dedicated to
buffering finished orders ready to be sent to dm- stores. It
handles products from the inbound goods area, supplies
goods to the picking zone and sequences and transports
cartons to the outbound goods area.
A 30m tall high-bay warehouse with seven automated
pallet handling cranes and 14,000 pallet locations holds
stock and supplies products to the small goods picking
zone.
In the storage preparation area, goods are prepared for
the picking process. Boxes are removed from pallets
automatically, cut open and transferred to a picking zone.
This transportation of products to a specific picking area
minimises the required walking distances of Pickers and
thus enhances productivity; on peak days at dm- more
than one million order lines are picked at 222 picking stations.
An investment for the future
DM-'s new logistics centre has excellent environmental and
sustainability credentials. Buildings are heated with CO2-efficient
wood chips, whilst energy-efficient motors in material handling,
solar panels on the roof, optimised utilisation of vehicles and the
bundling of transports guarantee savings of more than 5,000
tons of CO2 a year. More articles from Swisslog (UK) Ltd.: | 
