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EDNA uses OPM in its frozen goods warehouse
EDNA uses OPM in its frozen goods warehouse
EDNA's new 7,000 square meter distribution center in Sandersdorf-Brehna (Saxony-Anhalt) supplies its customers throughout Europe with frozen bakery products within 24 hours after order placement. It started productive use in October 2012 after a construction period of 1.5 years.
Customer: EDNA International GmbH
Customer service and responsiveness is the most important thing for EDNA, as bakery products are items that are ordered on a daily basis and generally need to be supplied by the next day. With its "central warehouse for production and retail goods including small parts picking", EDNA serves major customers and wholesalers directly with frozen bakery products and all smaller customers via an interim delivery warehouse of the distribution centers - both nationally and internationally. Goods ordered by 07:00 p.m. will normally be delivered the next day.
Location
Sandersdorf-Brehna
Industry sector
Food & Beverage
Solutions
OPM
Volume
32,000 cases with 3 COMs and an operation time of 16 hours per day
Special features of the project
A special feature at EDNA: With the help of a “palettometer”, the customer can decide how EDNA should "build" the pallet - individually tailored to the respective requirements. This service requires maximum system flexibility from the WITRON solution, since OPM has to build up to four different pallet types (standard, rainbow, sandwich, or individually mixed customer pallet) depending on the customer’s specifications - and this, of course, without any performance loss at the COM. Even the pallet height complies with the specifications of the individual customer.
Challenge
With a total of three COM machines (expandable to four), EDNA currently picks up to 13,000 cases a day at -24° C onto pallets without the need for personnel (final expansion 32,000 cases with 3 COMs running 16 hours per day). An automated six-aisle tray warehouse with 35,280 storage locations (expandable to 47,040) and a mechanized four-aisle pallet high bay warehouse (HBW) with 9,600 storage locations (expandable to 14,500) is located in front of the picking area. In addition, another 800 single-item full pallets (final expansion 2,000) that come directly from production and were buffered in the HBW before shipping, leave the facility every day. The system is designed for further growth and modular expansion options in all warehouse areas were already part of WITRON's logistics design.
Customer opinion
The fact that EDNA's picking process is divided into different day and night hours was another reason for the use of OPM. When working in frozen goods areas, it is not possible to permanently maintain personnel and use them cost-efficiently adapted to the necessary picking cycle. With WITRON's Case Order Machines (COMs), we have the required flexibility and can react purposefully. By centralizing the logistics processes for production and retail goods in Brehna, EDNA was able to close some external storage locations and thus reduce the number of pallet storage locations or warehouse stock by some 50%. With a very high pick quality, the error rate in the per thousand range is almost at zero percent.