Mercadona Awards Witron 16th Automated DC

At the end of December 2023, MERCADONA awarded the WITRON Group with the construction of a new 15,000 square meter dry goods distribution centre in Guadix (Granada) in southern Spain. This is already the 16th automated logistics centre that WITRON designs and realizes for MERCADONA – with a total of 203 COM machines in the dry, fresh, and frozen food sector.

Starting in 2026, the highly automated facility will supply more than 90 stores of the Spanish food retailer with 4,000+ items. Since the beginning of 2021, MERCADONA has been operating a modern frozen food logistics centre at the Guadix site, which was also designed and implemented by WITRON.

As a general contractor, WITRON is responsible for the design and implementation of all IT and mechanical components. All conveyor system elements and stacker cranes are designed and manufactured by WITRON.

Picking capacity for more than 120,000 cases per day

The store-friendly and error-free picking of up to 120,600 cases daily onto customer pallets is done by a WITRON OPM system with 12 COM machines. A 4-aisle automated pallet high bay warehouse with 5,600 storage locations as well as an automated tray warehouse with 24 miniloads and 143,200 storage locations are installed in front of the OPM.

Efficient real-time logistics network

All material flow processes are optimized by a high-performance WITRON warehouse management system. This web-based software suite stands for holistic networking and transparency. Both vertically between all system levels and horizontally within the entire supply chain. The result is a high level of “warehouse intelligence”, which means the creation of a real-time logistics network that connects all “players” directly with each other allowing changes to flow dynamically and seamlessly into the logistics process. In addition, the software suite guarantees a high degree of usability and user experience, individually adapted to the tasks of the respective workers.

Proud of 20 years successful partnership

The signing of the contract for the dry goods logistics center in Guadix marks the 16th highly automated logistics project to be jointly implemented. “The fact that a demanding customer like MERCADONA has trusted WITRON as a lifetime partner for 20 years makes us very proud. MERCADONA places high expectations on the store service, cost-efficiency, availability, ergonomics, and sustainability of our solutions. In addition, MERCADONA consistently lives by the same values as WITRON: being credible and keeping promises – to customers and employees. The new order is an incentive to remain an innovative and reliable partner for MERCADONA in the future. Because credibility is crucial for long-term cooperation – between people and companies”, explains Alberto Garcia Pardo, Key Account Manager at WITRON.

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Witron to Build Frozen Food Logistics Centre for Spain’s Mercadona

 

Grocery Retail Giants Rely on Automation

Cimcorp is a pioneer in intralogistics solutions, simplifying material flows and improving customers’ profitability by offering innovative and efficient solutions for automation. The company’s high-level technical skills combined with software know-how have created a unique formula for success in grocery retail automation. Through its automated logistics systems, Cimcorp provides its customers with the freedom to focus on their core business and offers them peace of mind.

From field to store within 24 hours

Freshness is a paramount consumer requirement that poses challenges for grocery logistics. With Cimcorp’s solution, grocery retailers have been able to dramatically reduce logistics delivery times from field to store.

“The grocery industry is extremely competitive, as shoppers change consuming habits fast and change stores even faster,” says Kari Miikkulainen, Director of Warehouse & Distribution Industry Sales at Cimcorp. “Today, stores offering the freshest, most seasonal produce win. Our job is to help industry players provide their shoppers with more high-quality fresh produce in less time.”

Optimizing intralogistics can, at its best, halve the time taken for produce to travel from field to store. For example, Cimcorp’s intralogistics solution has revolutionized the order-fulfillment process of the Spanish supermarket giant, Mercadona, enabling the delivery of fresh and seasonal produce to stores within 24 hours. By reducing lead times and optimizing order flows, Mercadona has extended shelf life for its perishable goods, reduced food waste and enhanced the overall customer experience.

Quality is another key criterion for consumers when shopping for groceries. In order picking, speed and precision are decisive for product quality, considering that there is typically a wide assortment of fresh produce articles. Boasting the largest range of groceries in the discount segment, German food retailer, Netto Marken-Discount also automated its fresh produce logistics with Cimcorp.

Fresh produce has a limited shelf life and the longer it takes to get to the store, the greater the chance that it will spoil or lose its nutritional value. With Cimcorp’s automation expertise, Edeka Freienbrink – part of the largest German supermarket chain, Edeka Group – delivers fresh produce to its stores within 4-5 hours of receiving orders.

Securing employee safety and wellbeing

Automation can also alleviate ergonomic and labour issues, enabling operations to run in a faster and safer way. As labour availability continues to be a major challenge, employees in manual warehouses need to work harder and faster to fulfill orders accurately and on time. This poses significant ergonomic hazards and risk of injury.

“The order-fulfillment process is automated; we trust our robots with the heavy lifting,” says Miikkulainen. “Trusting automation maximizes the center’s output capacity, increasing the quality and productivity of the staff at work. This collaborative, human-robotics knowledge ensures that everything inside the four walls of the distribution center is optimized, and no orders are ever late.”

At Edeka Freienbrink, the Cimcorp system takes care of the heavy lifting and physical work, allowing Edeka to rely on fewer people at the facility and making it easier to manage. Automation leads to a more pleasant work environment, allowing employees to focus on problem solving and critical thinking.

Mercadona’s approach to the benefits of automation is very employee-centric. The accuracy and quality of picked pallets, as well as shortened lead times, are always reflected through the effect on people. Securing employee safety and avoiding excessive workload are top priorities for the Spanish grocer.

Towards more eco-friendly supply chains

Automation and strategically planned intralogistics can enable businesses to become greener. As a pioneer in intralogistics solutions for grocery retail, Cimcorp is a partner that puts sustainability, social responsibility and governance plans into action. An inventory and supply system that flows smoothly encourages long-term resilience and complies with future requirements for transparency and sustainability, while also reducing carbon footprint and fresh-produce wastage.

In addition to successfully accelerating the intralogistics of customers around the world, Cimcorp has helped many grocers to utilize reusable plastic crates (RPCs). RPCs can help to minimize environmental impact beyond food waste. RPCs can be used thousands of times, replacing cardboard boxes as the method of transport for fresh produce from the farm to the store shelf. For example, Cimcorp has helped Mercadona to match automation and RPCs for excellent results.

Cimcorp’s Warehouse Control System (WCS) helps organize intralogistics and streamline the overall supply chain in a more sustainable way. Through optimizing the loading of delivery vehicles, customers can utilize their vehicle space more efficiently, which leads to fuller trucks and therefore fewer trucks. This means driving fewer kilometers on the road, reducing both CO2 emissions and pollution from exhaust fumes.

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Cimcorp to Automate Fresh Food Distribution for Spain’s Mercadona

 

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