The preparatory civil engineering work started in February 2020. Since then, the 4-aisle high bay warehouse (approx. 100 x 32 x 28 m LxWxH) with more than 10,000 pallet storage locations for single-deep and double-deep storage, has visibly taking shape. The warehouse was built in a cost-optimized silo design and will be primarily used to store dry goods. The 2-level picking area, which SSI Schaefer has integrated into the rack lines of the steel structure, is particularly tailored to the requirements of the location. The required pallets are transported directly to the ergonomic workstations, on the respective level, on gravity roller conveyors. This saves time and reduces process costs. The requested goods are taken from the staging areas and handed over to the characteristic EDEKA blue roller charts or pallets intended for store deliveries. There is also the possibility to transport single-item pallets directly to the goods-out area.

Steel construction to support warehouse organization

"The advantages of semi-automation from goods-in to replenishment are the optimization of process efficiency and the elimination of forklift transports for replenishment," explains Dr. Stefan Winter, Project Manager for logistics at EDEKA Handelsgesellschaft Nordbayern-Sachsen-Thüringen mbH. "Furthermore, we increase the number of picking stations on a given footprint with two picking levels and ensure maximize capacity with the high bay warehouse." This is also the result of dedicated, prudent and long-term planning – SSI Schaefer has already proven its effectiveness to EDEKA several times. "Every company has their own specific requirements, which means that every intralogistics system is always an individual solution," says Bastian Affholderbach, Sales Engineer at SSI Schaefer. "We are therefore guided by the maxim of always being close to our customers from the first contact in order to respond exactly to their wishes and requirements." This is the only way to develop a tailor-made system solution and implement it within an agreed budget and time frame. This basic premise also meets the wholesaler’s expectations: "SSI Schaefer supported us with excellent concept planning and cost optimization already in the sales phase," says Dr. Stefan Winter. "In the construction phase, everything comes from a single source. Here, SSI Schaefer stands out with consistently thorough planning and work preparation as well as individual solutions tailored to the local conditions and requirements of the customer," adds Dietmar Zier, Head of Construction and Technology at EDEKA Handelsgesellschaft Nordbayern-Sachsen-Thüringen mbH.

Professional project planning and implementation

The assembly of the high bay warehouse silos was completed by the end of 2020. Four SSI Exyz storage-retrieval machines were installed in November. Roofs and walls were completed in February 2021. Roller conveyors and the entire steel construction were also completed to schedule, in February 2021. Picking level one was installed at a level of +/- 0 m, level two at a height of 7.5 m. “Thanks to our many years of experience as a full-service provider in the field of intralogistics, we can guarantee adherence to deadlines, even with solutions that are not quite commonplace,” says Marcel Huck, Overall Project Manager at SSI Schaefer. “At the same time, our customers benefit from a high level of in-house production, which excludes dependencies on external suppliers.” In addition, an in-house assembly company is responsible for the work at the construction site. Having only one contact person for all sub-systems also convinced Dr. Stefan Winter: “Above all, the interface reduction thanks to the logistics GC and the associated lower coordination effort is advantageous. As a result, the project organization is much more streamlined.”

The project will have been completed within a period of only twelve months: Starting from May 2021, the new EDEKA pallet high bay warehouse in Gochsheim, Germany, which is controlled by the SSI Schaefer logistics software WAMAS^®, will be successively filled with dry goods. The handover of the turn-key system is scheduled for June 2021. In order to maintain constant system availability for future productive operation, the successful grocery wholesaler also relies on the know-how of SSI Schaefer, the intralogistics experts, for service and maintenance.