"The omnichannel solution designed by Witron enables us to have a flexible, efficient and sustainable logistics chain - both for the store-based supply of our stores and for the rapidly growing online food business. With this investment, we are taking a big step into the future together with the family-owned company Witron and strengthening the competitiveness of the entire Axfood family," says Klas Balkow, President and CEO of Axfood.

On a peak day, the case picking systems Order Picking Machinery (OPM) and Car Picking System (CPS) as well as the piece picking systems All-in-One Order Fulfillment (AIO), Dynamic Picking System (DPS) and Order Picking System (OPS) pick almost 1.6 million units. Deliveries are made - depending on the respective distribution channel - using a wide range of different load carriers: pallets and roll containers, frozen food containers, bins, delivery boxes and environmentally friendly paper bags. Innovative algorithms ensure efficient consolidation from the various product and temperature zones for each store or online order, as well as space-saving sizing onto or into the optimum shipping medium.

Outgoing goods buffer ensures highly efficient retrieval and dispatch

The fully automated outgoing goods buffer (WAP) plays a crucial role in the closely interlinked and highly integrated Axfood DC. On the one hand, it ensures significantly reduced space and staff requirements in the outgoing goods area. In addition, the WAP intelligently connects and decouples picking with the shipping area to ensure "excellence operation", so that all shipping units are prepared for loading in the outgoing goods area by stacker cranes and heavy-duty conveyors - "just-in-time", sorted by tours and stores, in the optimum truck loading sequence, taking into account storage space utilization. Thanks to the dynamic storage of picked customer orders in the shipping buffer, picking can continue even in phases with high dynamics, in which no loading takes place, without the shipping zone being overfilled - and vice versa: loading can also take place, even if no picking is taking place.

Another elegant solution is the dispatch preparation of e-commerce orders. Here, the containers are also sorted and stacked fully automatically by a so-called route sequence buffer immediately after picking, so that a shipping employee can load them into the respective delivery vehicle in the correct route and sequence.

As a life-time partner and general contractor, Witron is developing all IT, control and mechanical components. Among other things, more than 700,000 storage locations and more than 200 storage and retrieval machines are integrated into the imposing facility, which is 570 meters long, 180 meters wide and 34 meters high, connected by a 30-kilometer-long conveyor technology network. A Witron on-site team responsible for system operation, maintenance and service guarantees a permanently high availability of all components and processes around the clock - 365 days a year.

The logistics center is controlled by a multifunctional warehouse management system with open interfaces from the WMS to the customer's supplier systems, route planning systems and sales systems. "Smart data", a "digital twin" and an "intelligent control center" support the logistics staff in making decisions and optimally "driving" the system.

Successfully achieving all customer goals with end-to-end supply chain intelligence

"Today, it is no longer enough for the logistics center alone to be economical, efficient and flexible. The project must be successful "end-to-end". Due to the complexity of the task - supplying all distribution channels from one logistics center, extremely dynamic business processes, very high throughput in both the store business and the digital business - end-to-end supply chain intelligence is required that optimally integrates the DC into Axfood's entire logistics network. Both internally and externally. Both vertically and horizontally. From the supplier, to the logistics center, to transport to the stores or to the front door," explains Jack Kuypers, Witron Vice President for the North West Europe sales region. "This requires a precise understanding of the customer's processes - both the store business and the online business. On this basis, Axfood's project goals - high profitability, high delivery reliability, best delivery quality and product range expansion - can actually be implemented end-to-end".

"However, end-to-end integration is only one goal - it is at least as important to operate the different business cases, store and online, economically. And that is exactly what this hybrid model successfully achieves," Kuypers explains. "This creates a multifunctional logistics hub from which both the store business and the online business can be fully handled using the same technology, the same workforce and the same fleet of vehicles."

The consequence for the customer is that both profitability and sustainability are increased. "Economical logistics through high transparency, order consolidation, efficient transport routes through network and route effects. Flexibility in the event of sales fluctuations in the various distribution channels, real-time reaction to changes in internal and external conditions, resources in terms of personnel and machinery," says Jack Kuypers, listing numerous advantages.

"It feels very good to implement the project together with Witron," explains Nicholas Pettersson, President of Dagab, Axfood's purchasing and logistics company. "Witron is an established and strong partner that not only has the necessary know-how to successfully realize a project of this dimension. Witron also has a corporate culture that fits in very well with our culture - and in my view this is a crucial success factor in the implementation of such a demanding logistics initiative. Technology and culture must fit together".