Client

dm-drogerie markt – one of the leading drugstore chains in Europe – operates over 1,500 retail outlets and employs some 20,000 people. With a turnover of almost 3 billion Euros, dm-drogerie markt offers a range of some 12,000 product lines – with about 10% being own label – in stores across Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia and the Slovak Republic.

Project

In 2003, with the group enjoying double-digit sales growth and opening some 50 new branches each year, dm-drogerie markt decided that it needed a further logistics facility in southern Germany and Waghäusel – between Karlsruhe and Mannheim – was chosen as the location for the new 50 million Euro distribution centre. Swisslog was selected as main contractor for the project – responsible for its planning and realisation – and subsequently awarded the contract for its ongoing technical operation.

Solution

The 20,000m2 Waghäusel DC supplies some 5000 lines – from cosmetics and healthcare products to pet food and detergents – to up to 400 outlets across an area from Frankfurt to Munich.

After barcoding and checking for size and weight, incoming goods on Euro pallets are loaded onto one of 23 transfer cars mounted on an inverse monorail system for transport to one of the input stations of the pallet store. The thirteen 20mhigh automatic cranes store goods in the buffer store at the upper levels of the racking, with each product line being distributed across the aisles to ensure availability.

The 3 lower levels of the warehouse are used for picking, with pallets being placed by the cranes on gravity-fed conveyor that rolls pallets forward for access from the picking aisles. The solution features Swisslog’s CaddyPick concept, with orders picked manually onto specially-designed overhead conveyor cars, each of which is automatically fed an empty pallet and receives a pick order electronically. The car travels automatically to its required pick stations, where the pickers read the instructions on a screen mounted on-board. Cars are routed only to the required aisles, to minimise congestion. The cars feature special slots to accommodate empty pallets when pick-from loads are fully depleted. They also have bins for used shrink-wrap and waste cartons, to keep the picking faces tidy. Completed orders are automatically shrinkwrapped and directed to the appropriate dispatch lane. Any waste materials and empty pallets on the cars are then removed at a series of robotic stations and the cars then re-enter the system. Swisslog also supplied AutomationManager, a warehouse control system that manages all the storage, transport and ancillary equipment, whilst interfacing with dm-drogerie markt's own warehouse management and host systems.

Following successful commissioning, dm-drogerie markt outsourced the technical operation of the system to Swisslog. This 3-year contract – which covers servicing, maintenance, spare parts management, technical monitoring of systems and co-ordination of building technology – includes agreed guaranteed output levels.

Benefit

• High system availability
• Accurate, paperless order picking
• Barcode-enabled inventory control
• Efficient and tidy picking methods
• Lower transportation costs
• Modern hardware and software platforms
• Minimum system downtime
• Quality control

Swisslog Delivery

• Design and implementation of a new distribution facility
• Software system configuration and specification
• Software and hardware installation, testing and training
• RF equipment and on-board monitors