Order picking in Norwegian

The Parkstein-based system integrator was able to beat numerous competitors with its concept in an international ideas competition and has now also been awarded the contract for the planning, installation and servicing of the new REMA distribution center in Vinterbro. The 50,000 square meter facility will supply 574 stores. The contract was signed at the beginning of September 2016.

Store-specific order picking

The fully automated and semi-automated Witron order picking systems OPM (Order Picking Machinery), DPS (Dynamic Picking System) and CPS (Car Picking System) are used in the new distribution center in the dry, fresh and frozen product ranges. The articles and containers are picked according to store requirements and stacked on pallets, taking into account all store layouts and thus considerably simplifying shelf replenishment in the store.

REMA 1000 is one of the most successful discounters in Scandinavia. Together with Witron, the second automated full-range logistics center is already being implemented in Norway. Photo: REMA

Norwegians rely on Witron

REMA 1000, headquartered in Oslo, is one of the most successful discounters in Scandinavia and employs 17,800 people. With Coop and ASKO, leading food retailers in Norway already rely on Witron's highly dynamic logistics and picking systems. As general contractor, the company is responsible for the planning, implementation and commissioning of the entire IT, control and mechanical systems. It is also responsible for the future maintenance and servicing of the system. The Witron subsidiary FAS develops and builds a large part of the conveyor technology used.

As with the project in Stavanger, the criteria of flexibility, ergonomics, densely packed store pallets and maximum order consolidation were decisive award criteria for the project in Vinterbro, in addition to high cost-effectiveness. And the Witron solutions based on an innovative warehouse management system meet these requirements perfectly.

Dynamic picking processes

Factors such as sales volumes, order structures, weekly cycles, seasonal changes and ABC curves dynamically control whether items are picked fully automatically from the warehouse pallet or semi-automatically from containers or layer trays (basic pallet dimensions). Likewise, whether the products are retrieved fully automatically onto full, half or third pallets directly from the high-bay warehouse. The result is holistic, ergonomic processes with a high degree of flexibility.

Small-volume products directly into the shipping carton

The north/south distance in Norway is 2,000 kilometers. For this reason, every pallet and every truck must be optimally filled with goods when the individual stores are approached. This requires maximum order consolidation. For example, small-volume products (piece picking) are picked directly into shipping cartons using DPS and fed into the OPM system. There they are stacked fully automatically on order pallets together with larger retail and packaging units.

A mechanized outgoing goods buffer consolidates all order pallets from the dry and fresh product range and makes them available for the truck drivers via conveyor technology. After picking, frozen goods are first buffered in the deep-freeze area and fed to the outgoing goods area immediately before loading - route-optimized and sorted according to store layout.

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