After a two-year implementation period, Spar Österreichische Warenhandels AG and its project partner Witron Logistik + Informatik from Parkstein in Bavaria successfully put the fourth expansion stage of the central warehouse in Wels (ZLW) into operation.

By integrating state-of-the-art logistics technology, Spar will be able to pick another 140,000 additional retail units in 2-shift operation. The installation was carried out as a greenfield/brownfield combination in a new 20,000 square meter building, which was connected to the existing logistics areas during ongoing operations.

Long-standing partnership

Spar and Witron have enjoyed more than 25 years of successful cooperation, during which ZLW project phases 1, 2 and 3 were commissioned in 1998, 2002 and 2015. Witron was responsible for the planning, implementation, service and system operation as a lifetime partner in all expansion and modernization phases. With a total area of 50,000 square meters, the ZLW supplies a total of 1,500 stores throughout Austria and the Spar foreign subsidiaries with more than 18,000 different items from the dry goods range. The distribution center is designed for a daily picking capacity of 340,000 pick units in 2-shift operation and, on peak days, for picking up to 500,000 pick units in 3-shift operation.

"For Spar, it is important to focus on service level, efficiency, people, sustainability and flexibility when using innovative logistics technology," explains Witron project manager Ulrich Schlosser. "When it comes to the service level factor, Spar stores benefit from premium customer service, made possible by holistic economic processes within the internal and external logistics supply chain. Spar employees in the stores benefit from efficient goods handling thanks to store-specific picking of roll containers and employees in the distribution center benefit from ergonomic workstations. Sustainability is reflected in significant_{CO2 savings} thanks to tightly packed load carriers, optimal truck utilization and fewer truck journeys, as well as space savings in construction and the use of the latest warehouse technology. In addition, flexibility and expandability also ensure future viability, so that changing market requirements can be responded to quickly and flexibly.

OPM as a central element

As in stage 3, the central element of the "Stage 4" expansion is the fully automated OPM (Order Picking Machinery) storage and picking system. With the commissioning of 16 additional loading devices, a total of 24 case order machines (COM) are now in operation. This means that up to 140,000 additional retail units can be picked onto roll containers per day in two shifts. This means that a total of 340,000 retail units can be picked in two shifts.

Performance also increased considerably in other areas: an automated tray warehouse with 32 storage and retrieval machines was added, bringing the total to 48. The number of tray storage locations increased by 293,000 to 450,000. A new high-bay pallet warehouse with increased the number of storage and retrieval machines by 8 to 24; the number of pallet storage locations by 31,200 to 73,000; the depalletizer by 7 to 10 and the film wrapper by 3 to 5. Finally, an automatic empties buffer with 4 storage and retrieval machines for up to 8,600 roll containers was integrated. This ensures that there is always the optimum number of roll containers in the ZLW logistics cycle.

Holistic conversion concept a decisive factor

"But it wasn't just the technical concept that was important for the success of the project," says Witron project manager Ulrich Schlosser. "In a combined greenfield/brownfield project, a holistic change concept is also crucial - in other words, how the integration is implemented in terms of scheduling and organization. The most important question must be clearly addressed: In what way will the project be implemented during the entire project duration - and how will ongoing operations or delivery to stores and consumers, which must not be affected by the changeover, take place in parallel," explains Schlosser.

"Thanks to the modular design of our end-to-end solutions and their physical compactness, we can develop highly flexible implementation and future concepts for our customers right from the planning phase, which can be integrated directly into an existing system with a view to increasing volumes, growing article ranges, additional pick stations or changing business and material flow processes or, as in the case of Spar, integrated into the material flow of an existing system via a new build."

500,000 pick units for 1,500 stores

The Witron OPM and DPS solutions are used for storage and picking. A Witron on-site team is responsible for service, maintenance and system operation in shifts, thus ensuring permanently high availability of all logistics areas, material flows, mechanical, control and IT components.

"Mutual trust is the foundation of more than 25 years of partnership between Spar and Witron. Spar has often been a pilot customer and has repeatedly provided us with long-term support in the integration of new technologies and services. Spar and Witron - a perfect match: the company structure, the technology and especially the people," says Witron project manager Ulrich Schlosser.

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