Peterhans Handwerkercenter was founded in 1952 as a one-man business and is now headquartered in Würenlos in the Swiss canton of Aargau. The specialist store serves industrial and commercial customers in German-speaking Switzerland. In addition to the retail store, the company also operates an online store and employs 14 sales representatives. Customer focus is the top priority for the family-run company, which is now in its third generation. Peterhans planned a complete reorganization of its logistics in order to optimize the picking processes in its sales warehouse and reduce the waiting time for customers at the pick-up counters in the store. The AutoStore automated storage and picking system, planned and implemented by the general contractor and system integrator Element Logic, was the perfect solution.

All items ready for immediate retrieval
Previously, the entire product range at Peterhans was stored in shelving and pallet racks, which was space- and labor-intensive. Since the introduction of the AutoStore system in 2018, everything that fits into the containers and is not classified as hazardous materials has been stored here. "We are continuously strengthening our company location through future-oriented investments in the areas of digitalization and logistics. Our new fully automated AutoStore storage and picking system simplifies important warehouse processes and provides our employees with considerable support in their work. We have 36,000 items available for our customers," explains Dieter Egloff, Deputy Managing Director at Peterhans Handwerkercenter.

Space-saving integration
Due to the good volume utilization, less than 400 square meters of the total 4,000 square meters of building space are used for the AutoStore system, which was integrated into the existing building to save space. The automated storage and picking system contains almost 12,000 bins, 20 of which are stacked on top of each other. An aluminum grid is installed above the bins stored in this way. Ten high-speed robots move along this surface while pulling the bins out of the depths with their gripper units. A total of six conveyor ports are available for storing and retrieving goods.

All items that are not displayed on the shelves on the sales floor are stored in the system. In this "in-store solution", three conveyor ports are positioned behind the sales counter. The ordered items are quickly prepared and removed in front of the customer - similar to a drinks vending machine. The other ports are located outside the sales area at the back of the AutoStore warehouse and are used to pick orders from the online store and store goods.