With a market share of 37.5% and over 1270 stores, Albert Heijn is the largest supermarket chain in The Netherlands. This huge operation employs about 125,000 people, and distributes a selection of more than 25,000 products through six national and five regional DCs.
The facility in Zaandam, which lies to the north of Amsterdam, used to rely on a manual system to process and pick a range of dry goods. On a typical day, more than 100 people were engaged in the picking process. However, as the number of stores served by the facility grew, additional capacity was needed within the same footprint. At the same time, the objective was to reduce dependence on labour and make work less physically demanding.
To meet these challenges, while finding a way to maintain and even improve the usual excellent levels of service, the decision was taken to automate operations. The new system would have to handle an increasing volume of stock keeping units (SKUs), boost productivity and do everything in the same amount of floorspace.
Albert Heijn also wanted to improve picking accuracy – while reducing its reliance on an increasingly scarce labour supply – and do away with heavy lifting duties. “Workers are hard to find, and capacity is limited in the DC, because we can only work on the ground floor,” explains Nico Al, Asset Performance Manager with Albert Heijn. “That’s why we started looking for a mechanical solution.
With such a long “shopping list” of requirements, the supermarket chain needed a partner it could trust, and in Vanderlande it found the perfect match. “It was so great to join forces to design a new system,” says Hilbert Roukema, Project Manager Value Chain Development with Albert Heijn. “Vanderlande knows the technology, we know the retail process – and together we created a solution.”
Vanderlande’s focus was on automating the entire process with an eye for cost, ergonomics and energy efficiency. Its STOREPICK solution was handed over to the customer in March 2019. Vanderlande also provided an onsite service team delivering 24/7 support.
The system features an automated pallet high bay, robotised pallet decanting, an automated storage and retrieval system, robotised roll cage loading, and a fleet of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) from Toyota. Nico is impressed with what has been installed in the DC. “We have 59 AGVs driving around on this small footprint,” he says. “So traffic intensity is extremely high – and it’s great to watch!”
In addition, Vanderlande’s load forming logic (LFL) software ensures that the robot pickers stack roll cages in the correct order, with the heaviest items at the bottom. Cages can also be built in sequence, tailored to individual store layouts, which makes shelf-stacking quicker and more efficient.
Capacity and speed have been dramatically improved through the solution. There is now storage space for 2,700 SKUs and 950,000 cases.
“We can now supply many more shops, and while we are still learning, operations are going well,” says Martine van Gangelen, Operational Site Manager with Albert Heijn. “We send out 1.2 million packages per week – more during peak periods.”
Additionally, the system can support a lead time for shop deliveries from six to 18 hours. The transportation of goods to shops has also been made more efficient, as trucks can now be packed with 4-5% less empty space. In the long run, that means fewer journeys and reduced carbon emissions. Furthermore, stores have expressed their satisfaction with the improved stacking quality of the roll cages provided by this system.
Employees at the Zaandam facility are also benefiting from the introduction of advanced automation as Martine explains: “The work is physically less demanding, so people are happier and we’re seeing less absenteeism.”
Looking back at how the DC has been transformed from the days of manual processes, it’s clear that the change has been dramatic. “It is a completely different world, but we look back on the changes with enthusiasm – it was all new for us and for Albert Heijn.”
Every company and every market is different. This is reflected in the layout of your warehouse. Our warehousing experts are available to offer tailor-made advice.