Dense auto-storage solution also boosts pick speed for grocer

The automated storage and picking system is designed for crates and will be installed in a new dairy facility in Denver, Colorado, with the initial system going live in the second quarter of 2014. The new solution will fulfil Kroger’s objectives for faster picking, higher accuracy and greater reliability.

The system is designed to store up to 36,000 crates and process in excess of 30,000 crates per day. Crates will be stacked, accumulated and conveyed to four MultiPick gantry robots, which will move the inventory to storage positions on the floor until required for order fulfilment. Order pallets will be picked by the robots, palletised and banded before being loaded onto delivery vehicles.

Larry Noe, Manufacturing Engineering Manager for Kroger Mountain View Foods, says: “The system developed by Cimcorp/RMT Robotics achieves our objectives of faster picking, accuracy and reliability, enabling us to give our customers excellent standards of service. The system will reduce our operational costs, while ensuring customer orders are picked and shipped quickly and accurately.”