Integration of Marktkauf Logistics at EDEKA Was Successfully Completed


ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL--(Marketwire - June 9, 2009) - The logistics capacities of EDEKA's central warehouse in Hamm have been further expanded to accommodate the integration of Marktkauf into the EDEKA Group. This expansion involved the installation of WITRON's DPS system, and was completed during normal operations.

"The use of automated systems has proven its efficiency in the daily business, and our investment in technology at our central warehouse has been profitable from a financial point of view," says Thomas Kerkenhoff, Head of Logistics at EDEKA Rhein-Ruhr. "The implementation of Marktkauf would not have been as quick and successful without the automation technology in place at Hamm."

The existing Dynamic Picking System (DPS) with currently 60,000 tote locations was more than doubled, as WITRON Logistik + Informatik GmbH added another 78,000 locations during the expansion. This expansion enabled the integration of another 3,000 different SKUs in the system and allowed another 50,000 picks per day at ten new workstations.

WITRON had considered the possibility for future extension in its original design, making it possible to execute the DPS expansion during normal operations without any impact to the performance of the running system. WITRON's foresight in the planning process helped ensure a seamless expansion without any interruption to EDEKA's daily business.

The DPS expansion was completed by December 2008, enabling EDEKA to handle the Christmas and New Year's business with some of the new system parts already.

With the combination of WITRON's OPM (Order Picking Machinery), DPS, and pick-by-voice systems at Hamm, EDEKA Rhein-Ruhr now has the possibility to efficiently and profitably pick more than 500,000 units to supply 1,000 stores.

Contact Information: For editorial questions, please contact: Mr. Brian Sherman Business Development Manager phone 847-385-6000 email: WITRON Integrated Logistics Inc. 3721 Ventura Drive Suite 140 Arlington Heights, IL, 60004

The DPS system at the EDEKA central warehouse in Hamm was expanded by 78,000 tote locations to a total of 138,000 tote locations.