36
CASESTUDY
ROSSMANN STREAMLINES
DISTRIBUTION TO
1,200 STORES
New warehousing and distribution capabilities are helping one
of Germany’s largest pharmacy retailers support an elaborate
logistics operation ef½ ciently and reliably.
W
ith a broad range of high-class products, Grey collapsible boxes with dimensions of 600 x
top customer service and an extensive 400 mm are used as order totes. They are particularly
network of modern stores, Rossmann is suitable for the supply of goods to the stores, because
one of the leading companies in the German pharmacy they can be transported and stored folded when empty,
The retail chain’s
market. which saves space. Boxes are identi½ ed with a barcode
1,200 stores
The retail chain’s 1,200 stores across Germany offer label and are allocated to a store order for picking.
across Germany
17,500 different stock keeping units (SKUs) through The conveyor system, which is designed to handle
a network that requires the support of an elaborate 1,200 totes per hour in this area, automatically
offer 17,500
logistics concept, in which both the technology and supplies the required order totes to the 36 order
different stock
staff of its new distribution centre in Landsberg play a picking stations located on two levels of the zone-to-
keeping units
vital role. zone picking system. As soon as a tote reaches the
With a new distribution centre (DC), Rossmann appropriate picking station it is diverted from the main
(SKUs) through
aims to guarantee goods availability for its stores, conveyor line onto the parallel roller conveyor that
a network that
as well as processing incoming orders, as fast and constitutes the picking station zone.
requires the
ef½ ciently as possible. It achieves this thanks to an A pick-by-light display informs the picker of the
automated high bay warehouse and a semi-automated quantity he has to pick from each particular storage
support of
order picking facility featuring TGW technology. tote. Once all the required SKUs have been deposited
an elaborate
The high bay automated pallet warehouse, with into the order tote, it is pushed back onto the main
logistics concept
its minimised footprint acts as a bulk store and also conveyor line and automatically transported to the
supplies the picking zones. The warehouse is highly next pick zone. This highly ef½ cient order picking
¾ exible and the con½ guration can be adjusted to process has led to greatly increased picking speeds and
optimise the available storage space; goods can be optimised utilisation of available storage space.
stored either single deep in four rack lines on 22 levels Goods are delivered to Rossmann’s retail stores
or in three rack lines providing double-deep storage in roll containers. Up to 1,200 order totes have to
on 19 levels. The compact high bay warehouse, which be packed into the roll containers in the two goods
is approximately 100 metres long and 37 metres wide, despatch areas. An average of 7,000 roll containers
accommodates about 37,000 pallets. leave Rossmann’s DC every day for distribution to
All the operational areas in Rossmann’s distribution stores across Germany.
centre are centrally connected by a high-performance
overhead monorail system, which comprises 32
separate carriages each one equipped with its own
drive. Riding on a 440 metre long overhead rail the
carriages transport the pallets through most of the DC,
connecting the goods receiving area with the high bay
warehouse and pallet picking zone. Up to 400 pallets
per hour are transported to their required location by
this system.
The TGW multi-level conveyor system handles up
to 2,000 totes per hour and connects the repacking
area with the nine aisles of the automated small parts
warehouse, the zone-to-zone picking area in the new
and old buildings as well as the completed order tote
area.
RETAIL TECHNOLOGY NOVEMBER 2008
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