Fast movers enter the tunnel

Non-alcoholic drinks, beer, sparkling wine, spirits or wine - what will it be? With 220 stores in nine federal states and the Austrian Tyrol, Fristo is one of the largest beverage retailers in Germany. Fristo supplies its stores from its headquarters in Buchloe in southern Bavaria, its logistics centers in northern Bavaria, Hesse and Saxony and, since 2015, from Zimmern ob Rottweil in Baden-Württemberg. The new distribution center in the Inkom industrial park covers around 35,000 square meters, with 7,700 square meters of warehouse space available. The entire facility has space for 6,200 pallets. "We store a total of 965 items here," explains Operations Manager Tobias Munke. "We deliver around 200,000 crates of drinks to 31 stores in South Baden and South Württemberg every month."

Always adhere to best-before dates

Fristo placed very special demands on the shelving technology to ensure that the liquids reach the customers quickly. "We wanted to make optimum use of the available space," explains Munke. "At the same time, the best-before dates (BBD) of the products must be adhered to at all times." The shelving technology had to be able to implement the FiFo principle easily. That's why the decision was quickly made in favor of pallet flow racks. "There is no alternative to this technology for us," says the operations manager. This is because the load units move up automatically when they are removed by the forklift truck. This means that the goods that should be consumed first are always at the front. And sufficient replenishment means that empty picking times are avoided. The compact arrangement of the flow channels next to and above each other also results in a high storage density. The hall volume can thus be optimally utilized.

The shelving technology was supplied and installed by Bito-Lagertechnik GmbH. "We had already had very good experience with the systems from the full-service provider at the Rossau distribution center," says Munke. "We were impressed by the quality. We have been using the racking systems in Saxony for more than ten years without any relevant defects," emphasizes the operations manager. In Zimmern, Bito installed a pallet live storage racking system with a capacity of 4,504 storage locations. In addition, there are static racks for 1,708 pallets. These are used to store goods that are independent of handling.

Picking tunnel for fast-moving items

The two picking tunnels for 1,664 pallets are the special feature of the live storage system. "This variant is used in particular for fast-moving items - i.e. for goods that are frequently handled," explains Bito Area Sales Manager Holger Graf, who supervised the project. The replenishment warehouse is located directly above the picking area. The pallets are stored there in flow channels. "In the picking area itself, the goods are provided several deep on flow levels," says Graf. The employees have permanent individual access to all products. This is because the rollers automatically bring replenishment to the picking position. This means that the employees can use the flow system in the picking tunnels to very efficiently remove different beverage crates from the pallets and then combine these crates into mixed pallets. The rack is operated with forklift trucks. With this solution, employees can prepare tours very quickly.

"For us, there is no alternative to pallet flow racking technology."

Fristo's Operations Manager Tobias Munke agrees with Angela Merkel when it comes to the warehouse concept.

To control the speed of the pallets in the flow channels, Bito has installed brake rollers and the innovative FlowStop overrun stops in each channel. "This is fitted on the removal side and separates the second pallet from the first," explains Graf. "This allows the employee to remove the pallet from the rack - without any accumulation pressure from the following pallets." The overrun stop reliably separates the pallets and is also maintenance-free.

Separate channels for fast and slow movers

At goods-in, the employees use double clamp stackers to take two pallets at a time from the trucks and drive them to the shelves. Depending on the turnover frequency, the drinks are placed in the appropriate channels. Fast-moving items, which are delivered to the stores as a full pallet, are placed directly on the conveyor belts from the outside. Fast-moving items, which are delivered to the stores in stacks, are transported to the picking hall by the forklift and placed in the flow channels above the tunnels. The slow-moving items are placed in the pallet racks. The employees remove full pallets with LPG forklifts and place them directly at the goods issue area, which is also located in the full-load hall. Items that Fristo delivers in boxes or stacks are removed by employees using picking ants.

Exclusive items such as wines are not delivered on pallets, but in boxes or crates of different sizes and weights. In order to store and pick them efficiently, Bito installed a live storage and retrieval system (SDS) with 120 channels. "This is where we store goods with a maximum weight of up to ten kilograms," says Munke. The system is loaded with cartons from one side. These then roll automatically to the front, where the employee removes the cartons. Order pickers and goods providers can thus work undisturbed by each other.

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