E-grocery: FoodOase automates warehouse

The German company FoodOase has partnered with the intralogistics AutoStore specialist Element Logic. The e-grocer has grown steadily since it for in 2007 but recent years have seen faster growth. In 2019, FoodOase integrated the online shop querfood.de and in the first half of 2020, there was another significant increase in order volume due to the pandemic.

In the past, FoodOase handled its warehouse logistics via a 3PL provider, who experienced the rapid growth of the company with its manually operated warehouse as an increasing challenge. Founder Sandra Neuber realised a new logistics concept was necessary. As a result, the entrepreneur rented a logistics hall in Geesthacht east of Hamburg and decided to take over the logistics by integrating it into her own company.

The planning and implementation of the new warehouse is conducted in cooperation with Element Logic and the German logistics consultant LogBer. The heart of the warehouse will be a fully automated, robot-based storage and retrieval system, AutoStore by Element Logic. In the first expansion phase, the system will have a size of 220 sq m and is intended to process orders from the company’s online shops. According to the founder, this is one of the largest, but also most important investments in the history of FoodOase.

“Our customers expect us to ship their products very quickly and reliably. This is particularly important for them. Due to their special nutritional needs, they usually cannot find their daily food which they tolerate well in supermarkets. With our scalable, automated warehouse, we want to ensure that we will always continue to meet these expectations now and, in the future,” says Sandra Neuber, CEO at FoodOase.

In addition to the AutoStore solution, Element Logic – in its role as general contractor – will also supply a warehouse management and material flow control system for this project. This system does not only manage and optimise AutoStore, but also the entire manual areas of the logistics centre. In the first step, the AutoStore system at FoodOase will contain 6,100 storage bins and 13 AutoStore robots. Three carousel ports are available for goods in- and outbound. The finished installation is to be handed over to the customer by February 2021.

For more information, visit www.elementlogic.co.uk