Nordwest is investing in an automation solution from Knapp at its Alsfeld site on a warehouse area of 68,000 m². The new central warehouse will be a key hub in the flow of goods for the production connection trade (PVH) in Germany and will serve as a model for sustainable logistics.

"The construction of our new central warehouse will further increase our national and international competitiveness and that of our specialist retail partners, enable future growth and raise our range of services to a new level," says Thorsten Sega, Northwest Management Board member responsible for the Logistics division.

Logistics processes increase efficiency and flexibility

The heart of the new automation solution will be the Evo Shuttle small parts warehouse with a height of 20 meters. 210 shuttles will provide 170,000 storage locations for the efficient storage and retrieval of containers. The goods-to-person workstations of the Pick-it-Easy series for order picking as well as decanting and packing workstations optimize work processes and create ergonomic working conditions. Autonomous mobile robots, the Open Shuttles, expand the solution by flexibly connecting the small parts warehouse with the consolidation workstations and transporting the goods just-in-time to the right place. The solution is supplemented by carton erectors at the packing stations and dispatch ramps with telescopic conveyors. The entire system is controlled via an SAP EWM MFS material flow computer from Knapp.

Small-scale shipping structures can be mapped

"With the new automated central warehouse, our specialist retail partners will benefit not only from high product availability but also from even more efficient logistics that perfectly reflect the small-scale shipping structures in our industry. Longer order acceptance times, shorter order throughput times and same-day shipping are decisive advantages," explains Thorsten Sega.