Warehouse automation from KNAPP is helping TUS, the leading supermarket group in Slovenia, to gain competitive advantage. The group’s growing empire features not only supermarkets, megastores and petrol stations but also shopping malls and entertainment centres – operating under the brand ‘Planet TUS’ – across Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and Macedonia.
TUS has been putting its trust in logistics solutions from KNAPP since 1999. The group’s 25,000m2 distribution centre (DC) in Celje, Slovenia, which serves the entire Slovenian market, was constructed in 2002 and has gradually employed more and more of KNAPP’s warehouse automation. Running over three shifts with more than 100 operators, the Celje DC is controlled by KNAPP’s KiSoft WMS, which is connected to the TUS ERP system and optimises all warehouse processes including goods-in, fork-lift control, storage location management and order picking operations for the range of chilled dairy, meat and fresh produce, as well as ambient products. For order picking, a combination of pick-by-voice, RF picking and pick-to-light techniques are employed to maximise efficiency in each area of the warehouse. But control doesn’t stop at the loading bay – the material flow from the dispatch ramp to the customer is handled by KNAPP’s KiSoft Track & Trace, including control of loading, unloading, load carrier tracing and returns.
For chilled products, KNAPP’s high-performance OSR Shuttle™ system was recently integrated into the workflow. Combining shuttle-based storage with goods-to-person picking stations, the OSR Shuttle™ achieves six times the rate of totes in/out than a standard ASRS, while using less than 10% of the energy consumption.
Internal transport at TUS is supported by KiSoft AUTOMOVE, KNAPP’s solution for equipping low-level order picking trucks with laser navigation for driverless transport. Each truck can undertake long driving tasks, such as collecting empty pallets, on its own. Then the truck automatically escorts the picker, who is equipped with pick-by-voice technology, to the required pick locations. This solution ensures maximum staff availability for picking and the use of a voice system allows staff to use both hands for this task. Pick-by-voice typically shows an increase in picking performance over paper picking of up to 35% and over handheld scanner operations of up to 15%, with a return on investment of less than 12 months.
KNAPP UK Ltd
Tel: 01844 202149
Email: sales.uk@knapp.com
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