As a global retail information service provider, Planet Retail awards outstanding performances in retailing and food service each year. The companys headquarter is located in London.
A board of some 30 analysts decides on the winners in a variety of categories. Awards are assigned for innovative marketing, store and sales concepts, technologies or leading logistics strategies. Planet Retail analyses and evaluates retail companies throughout the world when determining their award winners.
Their 2008 Innovation Award went to Edeka Handelsgesellschaft Rhein-Ruhr in the category of supply chain. Edeka Handelsgesellschaft Rhein-Ruhr operates one of Europes most advanced distribution centers in Hamm, Germany. Their DC is equipped with a highly efficient automated picking system known as OPM (Order Picking Machinery). OPM is the brainchild of Witron Logistik + Informatik, a systems integrator located in Parkstein, Germany.
More than 11,000 different items are picked and packed by means of the Witron technology. The OPM system is also being used successfully in installations for Kroger in the USA and Mercadona in Spain. Edeka is leading the field particularly, since the central warehouse in Hamm is operating the highest number of different articles without human intervention.
Edeka supplies 880 stores in North Rhine-Westphalia from its central warehouse in Hamm-Rhynern. The automated high bay warehouse provides more than 40,000 pallet locations and serves as replenishment warehouse for the picking systems. A product analysis within the planning phase has shown that 85% of Edekas dry goods assortment can be picked fully automatically. On peak days, more than 240,000 cases are mechanically picked onto pallets and into roll containers in a store-friendly sequence without the use of personnel. The warehouse in Hamm is part of Edekas master plan for optimizing a nationwide supply chain.
Add a Comment
No messages on this article yet