Higher work efficiency thanks to intelligent labelling in the Makro distribution centre.
Makro Cash & Carry was established as a subsidiary of SHV Makro. As of 1 January 1998, all of SHV Makro's wholesale activities in Europe were taken over by Metro AG. In the Czech Republic, 13 wholesale centres belong to the Makro Cash & Carry network. All of them have a sales area of around 15,000 m2. These centres focus on the wholesale of a wide range of food and non-food consumer goods to registered entrepreneurs, traders and other entities such as hospitals, schools, government authorities, etc.
MACRO DISTRIBUTION CENTRE IN KOZOMIN
The new distribution centre, which leads to the creation of 600 jobs, is designed for both direct deliveries to customers and optimised supply to stores. It was built in 2017. The basic pillar is a semi-automated central warehouse with 50,000 m2 of space near Kozomin (Central Bohemia). This warehouse offers four separate temperature zones (dry, frozen, fresh and ultra-fresh) for the central storage of goods and 50,000 storage positions. The refrigerated areas cover up to 40% of the area. The centre operates around the clock and is serviced both manually and by automated lines. The internal technological solution of the semi-automated storage and handling lines is provided by SSI SCHÄFER.
SITUATION BEFORE THE PROJECT
The customer was looking for a solution on how to best organize the new warehouse using barcodes, how to clearly and robustly label all warehouse positions, get the maximum possible overview of the warehouse items and eliminate unnecessary work in tracking them down.
PROJECT OBJECTIVES
- Better orientation of warehouse staff
- Comprehensive labelling of warehouse, storage positions
- Speeding up the work of warehouse staff
- Avoidance of errors during loading and unloading
- Correct functionality of the WMS system with barcodes
MATERIAL USED
Robust multi-layer polypropylene labels with strong adhesive. Digital printing on these labels offers excellent resistance to abrasion, abrasion, chemicals, oils and UV rays. Thanks to the lamination, the labels are also resistant to rough handling. Polycarbonate labels with a strong adhesive have been used to mark loose surfaces (floors).
SOLUTION
Our sister company in the Czech Republic, KODYS, spol. s. r. o., designed a unique solution for marking warehouse locations with special pre-printed multi-level pallet rack labels for dry, frozen, fresh and ultra-fresh warehouses.
The entire rack column is identified by a single multilevel label placed on the first rack beam at a convenient height for barcode scanning. There are several barcodes on the label and each barcode identifies one tier of the rack, which is also marked with the appropriate color corresponding to this multi-color label. The angled positioning of the barcodes on the label ensures that only the required code is scanned, which speeds up warehouse staff and reduces errors.
PVC boards were used to mark the shelf rows, to which durable A4 polypropylene labels were applied, and for the dispatch gates used to load and unload the trucks, these durable labels were used, but in A3 format. Each storage position on the shelving racks was marked with a separate 'single' label.
For the labelling of concrete floors, a special solution was used in the form of polycarbonate labels resistant to mechanical influences, fixed with a high-adhesive adhesive. Paper labels with thermal transfer printing of SSCC codes are used for parcel dispatch.
RESULT IN THE EYES OF THE CUSTOMER
"Thanks to the new equipment, the entire distribution service process including picking, consolidation and dispatch of orders will be much more efficient. In an optimal solution, the delivery of the ordered goods to the customer in Prague will take up to eight hours. In addition, the optimization of supply to individual stores will result in reduced stock requirements and greater flexibility in ordering. Improved process set-up will reduce unnecessary handling of goods and allow employees to spend more time with customers."
"We are really pleased, the signage from KODYS is absolutely fit for purpose and the orientation of the warehouse staff is excellent and almost flawless, which helps with greater efficiency, productivity and avoiding errors. The speed of the picking process has also increased. The colour differentiation of the individual labels means greater efficiency and productivity in that it is not, for example, demanding to train new temps or for foreign workers."
Martin Reichl, Makro Cash & Carry Logistics Manager