New solutions from Witron

As the company also announced at a press conference in Parkstein, the number of employees rose to over 2,800 in the course of 2016. Witron has hired 1,000 additional employees in the past four years alone. The subsidiary FAS Förder-Anlagen-Service is also continuing to grow. Here, turnover increased by 4.5 percent compared to the previous year.

On the way to the digital future

Managing Director Helmut Prieschenk gave a brief insight into how Witron intends to shape its path into the future. "The world is becoming increasingly networked and we and our customers are feeling this trend particularly keenly in logistics. Information and algorithms play a central role in this context - data is undoubtedly the decisive raw material of the future," said Prieschenk: "However, digitalization must never be an end in itself; at the end of the day, projects and business models must pay off." Customers don't order because of the buzzwords digitalization or Industry 4.0, but because they want to achieve a return on investment (ROI) and become more competitive - or, for example, increase the availability of systems.

Thanks to innovative service and operator models, Witron Service has also grown considerably under the responsibility of Managing Director Christian Dietl.

In order to be able to link the physical world with the digital world, a paradigm shift must take place - away from a linear supply chain and towards real-time logistics networks. "On the way there, we need to think and act end-to-end," says Prieschenk. Production, suppliers, intralogistics, transportation and consumers are becoming more and more interconnected in this network thanks to a multitude of data and information. To achieve this, two crucial things are necessary: The vertical and horizontal consistency of the "intralogistics ecosystem" and the integration of the various network participants via standard interfaces. Witron has created the so-called Witron 4.0 portal for this purpose - a portal for connecting Witron systems to and with the outside world. In addition to this integration of the various ecosystems, Witron has since created a digital twin, the "WiTwin". "The WiTwin is a digital copy of a physical logistics center and can therefore be used effectively for a variety of activities throughout the project, such as planning, implementation and testing, as well as later for operations and maintenance," explained Prieschenk.

Strong growth in the service sector

Witron recorded very strong growth in the area of services. In the 2016 financial year, the company employed 1,400 people in the service sector, 40% more than in the previous year. Service turnover rose by 30 percent to around 130 million euros. "We currently serve around 400 service customers," explained Christian Dietl, Managing Director of Witron Service. "The big challenge for us is to integrate technology, processes and people - in ever more flexible, dynamic, automated systems and to achieve maximum efficiency." The logistics specialist relies on a combination of reactive and proactive services in order to be highly flexible. The company offers technical services through to full-service provider and has extensive service and supply chain experience, especially in the retail and distribution sector. In ten countries alone, Witron operates 40 customer sites with local on-site teams that are located directly and permanently in the customer's warehouses and integrated into the customer's processes.

Smart picking with new solutions

Company founder Walter Winkler then presented the latest developments from his company. The "All-in-one (AIO)" solution combines the Witron modules "Order Picking System (OPS)", "Dynamic Picking System (DPS)" and "Order Consolidation Buffer (OCB)" in one integrated system - and thus utilizes all the advantages of tried-and-tested picking systems for all articles and distribution channels (store delivery, e-commerce, omnichannel). "We are integrating two picking principles here, static provision for fast-moving items and dynamic provision for slow-moving items, as well as order consolidation in one system," said Winkler. "By integrating picking and order consolidation in one system, we can ensure unprecedented flexibility for volume fluctuations of full units, cases and pieces - daily, seasonal and long-term."

"However, digitalization must never be an end in itself; at the end of the day, projects and business models must pay off."

Helmut Prieschenk Managing Director Witron

Presented in live operation: Optimal Fresh Picking (OFP) automatically picks full containers and individual items in a single system in the fresh food area.

Efficient Mobile Picking (EMP) was developed for the logistics centers of food retailers, online retailers and parts distributors and is used to pick a wide range of retail units. "The provision of slow-moving items on bins and medium-moving items on layer trays offers customers significant efficiency gains in this area," says Winkler. The Pickmobile "WiBot" - autonomous, swarm-intelligent Witron picking vehicles - support or leading order pickers and form a complete system with automatic pallet storage and replenishment. This makes order picking considerably more efficient. The increase in performance is in the region of 30 percent.

Witron innovations in live operation

Finally, the two system solutions "Automated Tote Repack (ATR)" and "Optimal Fresh Picking (OFP)" were shown in live operation. "The ATR is the first system for the fully automatic filling of containers," explained Martin Stich. "We have developed a unique filling mechanism from above that does not require open cartons to be tipped." This makes the Witron classic DPS, for example, even more interesting for customers because the manual repacking process is no longer necessary. Witron has developed the OFP module especially for the requirements of fresh produce logistics, which guarantees single item and full unit picking in one system. "We can process a complete order here," says Stich. "The optimum sizing algorithm is determined by the OFP, the items are pulled into the container layer by layer via a kind of carpet solution and picked." The system enables an effective picking performance of up to 900 units per hour per retrieval shuttle.

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