Automated picking solutions at Coles’ two national distribution centers align with the companywide strategy to deliver store-ready stock more efficiently. Supply Chain Review goes inside the Melbourne facility to inspect the world-class system

 

At least part of the supply chain transformation of supermarket giant Coles is being handled not by people, but by robots.

 

Automated picking solutions at Coles’ two key national distribution centers (NDCs) in Sydney and Melbourne are, according to the retailer, providing significantly improved store-friendly deliveries while minimizing end-to-end supply chain costs and making warehousing operations safer and more efficient.

 

Supply Chain Review went inside the cavernous Melbourne facility at Somerton to see the unique split-case picking solution, the Australian flagship installation for solution provider SSI Schaefer.

 

Taking 12 months to install and bringing together over 50 expert staff, Schaefer says the design incorporates best-in-breed solutions from installations across the globe. The sheer size and capacity of the national distribution centre makes the Coles solution one of the most advanced automated order-picking solutions in Australia.

 

Measuring 10,000 square-metres, the installation is a fully automated picking and storage system incorporating three types of conveyors totaling close to 3km in length, two robots for stacking totes onto dollies or pallets, eight cranes, 18 carousels and over 150,000 totes.

 

Every component of the solution has been customized for Coles’ stringent requirements, producing a system Coles says has delivered on picking accuracy and efficiency while reducing operating costs.

 

Combined the Somerton facility in Victoria and the Eastern Creek, NSW, facility supply over 1,100 retail stores with ambient grocery goods, including toiletries, confectionary, soups and snacks, cosmetics, pet food and health food products. Coles demanded a solution that could hold some 16,000 SKUs and speed up picking while improving its delivering offerings to stores.

 

Andrew Sanderson from Coles says the NDCs’ design was developed in line with Coles’ overall supply chain and logistics transformation project.

 

“The NDC’s were designed to enable store-friendly deliveries and provide safer and more efficient operations,” Sanderson says.

 

“The key on our journey was safety. This was paramount in all of our design principles.”

 

Coles chose automation as an efficient way of dealing with the large number of slow-moving product lines within the NDCs. The design of the equipment enables these goods to be picked more efficiently over manual methods, while ensuring any manual handling that is done remains operationally safe.

 

All goods in the Somerton NDC are received on pallets from hundreds of suppliers every week. Goods that are picked within the automation system are then re-packed into plastic totes. Empty totes are erected at the empty tote buffer and then fed into the system.

 

The manual re-packing of the items into the empty totes, which are fed via the conveyor system, takes place at 14 dedicated, ergonomically-designed workstations. Once emptied, pallets are transported away from the workstations, stacked and made available on transfer stations for further use.

 

Partially emptied pallets are forwarded to pick-up stations for the transport into the pallet warehouse. The accumulated cardboard packaging is collected on trash conveyors and fed to an external compactor for recycling.

 

Storage totes filled with products now arrive in the storage area. Here they are either stored directly into the ‘Miniload’ tote storage system or in the Schaefer Carousel System (SCS). During peak periods the SCS serves as a temporary overflow buffer for the Miniload system.

 

In the Miniload, the totes are stored double-deep in eight aisles over an area of about 4,800sqm. More than 100,000 storage totes can be available at any time in the Miniload system.

 

Eight storage and retrieval machines (SRMs) ensure the efficient processing of storage and retrieval movements, as well as replenishing totes to the pick faces of the 32 workstations.

 

Next to the Miniload there are two SCS modules with five carousel systems per module. They serve as an intermediate buffer for storage operations and as an order consolidation buffer prior to shipping.

 

With its 13 levels at 64 totes per level, these SCS modules offer an additional 8,000 dynamic tote storage positions.

 

Picking For Transport

Based on the orders received from stores nationally, the items are picked into transport totes and then consolidated for shipment. Slow moving goods are picked at two pick-to-tote workstations, fed by four systems per workstation.

 

In the Miniload area, A- and B- movers are picked and supported by pick-to-light technology at 32 workstations. The 4,180 pick faces are automatically replenished by the SRMs.

 

Dynamic storage positions for slow-moving items are also located in this area, which allows storage of partially emptied totes back into the Miniload racking system. Storage totes that are emptied during the picking process are then either used directly as transport totes or fed back into the empty tote buffer.

 

Once the order picking process is complete, a weight check is performed on integrated scales to verify the contents of each tote. Any necessary rectification, as well as random quality assurance takes place at four quality control workstations.

 

Should there be deviations, a detailed inspection of the order is done and missing items can then be picked. The transport totes are then forwarded to the SCS in the order consolidation buffer.

 

Once complete and ready for shipping, finished orders are retrieved and transported to the dispatch area via two conveyor lines. During transport, shipping labels are automatically applied to the totes.

 

The filling level of each tote is also checked in order to ensure safe stacking for transport. Subsequently, complete order-sequences are compiled at the sequencer in loading order. The totes are then transferred to one of six pick-up lanes.

 

Two robots stack the totes onto dollies and pallets. Depending on the order destination, the system will provide one of two transport options. Dollies offer a capacity of 12 totes, whereas pallets can be stacked with up to 36 totes.

 

In order to meet the selected loading pattern, the robots can pick up between one and three totes at any given time — made possible by system identification and an adjustable gripping device.