Kardex Remstar Installs New Vertical Lift Modules

Westbrook, Maine-based Kardex Remstar has installed 18 new Shuttle XP Vertical Lift Modules (VLMs) at Swiss ICT distribution company ALSO Schweiz AG, which picks around 600,000 orders every year.

At close of business at most other facilities, the VLMs continue work to put ordered goods on retailers’ shelves by 2pm the following day. Since trucks are not allowed on the roads after 10pm, the window of opportunity is tight. Everything has to run like clockwork.

The Emmen-based facility works to a zero defects principle, with a delivery accuracy rate of 99.94%.

“We only make promises to our customers that we are able to keep,” said Edwin Duss, long-standing head of logistics at ALSO.

ALSO is part of the ALSO Group, which was founded in 2011 following a merger between the Swiss-based ALSO Holding AG and the German company Actebis GmbH. As a wholesale company and logistics service provider for information technology, entertainment electronics and telecommunications, the group operates in 12 European countries and is ranked third in its sector in Europe.

Around 600,000 orders are picked at the logistics center in Emmen every year. On an area covering a total of 26,000 square meters, spread across three floors and linked by means of conveying technology, products featuring a wide range of geometries are stored, from large-format screens to washing machines and USB sticks.

There are several storage zones for these products, some for pallet storage, others for small parts storage. Altogether, there are approximately 45,000 articles in the ALSO range. Around 8,000 of these are kept in 18 Shuttle XP 250 storage lifts supplied by Kardex Remstar. The storage lifts stand more than 19m high and are integrated in the building over three floors. There are access openings on two levels. The goods are stored on the first floor; retrieval and order picking take place on the second floor. In view of the discerning quality requirements and just-in-time delivery to the customer, high availability is an absolute must at ALSO.

“Two main cost drivers had to be reduced—dispatch costs and transit times within the storage facility,” said Duss. “The former was achieved by bundling articles for dispatch wherever possible. ALSO reduced transit times within the storage facility by using the Shuttle XP Vertical Lift Modules from Kardex Remstar, which are designed in line with the ‘goods to person’ principle. Productivity at ALSO receives an extra boost thanks to various order picking strategies, which are intelligently linked with each other. For instance, three shuttles have been assigned to each picking zone, which means that the picker can process different orders at the same time and avoid idle times.”