As a medium-sized trading company, the Bünting Group has been based in Leer (East Frisia) for over 200 years. With around 12,500 employees, it is one of the largest employers and an important economic factor in the north-west. The group includes the sales companies famila and Combi with their different specialisations and the Bünting tea trading company. Bünting E-Commerce GmbH & Co KG for the online business, Bünting Großhandel und Service GmbH & Co KG as a partner for independent retailers and wholesalers and several service companies are also united under the umbrella of the group of companies.
As a central service provider, Bünting SCM/Logistik GmbH & Co. KG is responsible for the entire supply of goods for the Bünting Group, retailers of food and non-food items. From three central warehouses in Nortmoor, Wallenhorst and Salzkotten, it supplies the branch network of its own sales companies, including “famila”, “Combi” and “Markant”, as well as external food wholesale and retail customers.
viaLogs projects with Bünting
Concept for expansion
viaLog was commissioned to
- develop a master plan and concept for the expansion of the site near Osnabrück.
viaLogs projects with Bünting
Planning and realisation of an automated shuttle warehouse
The challenge
The capacities of the Nortmoor and Wallenhorst sites were almost fully utilised due to the continuous growth in articles. More and more items had to be stored in the same space. As a result, the internal warehouse processes were also reaching their limits. A solution had to be found for the sustainable development of the sites.
The task
As part of a network analysis, Bünting and viaLog reviewed the various warehouse locations in terms of their efficiency and development potential. The planners identified potential for improvement, particularly in the storage and picking of C-parts in the dry goods range, some of which had inefficient processes. Consideration was given to centralising and automating these slow-moving items to a greater extent.
The integration of the e-commerce business of the Bünting shops myTime.de, combi.de and the Bünting tea shop into the newly planned logistics also offered further economic and qualitative advantages and the utilisation of synergy effects.
In the course of further analyses, the Nortmoor site proved to be particularly suitable for the planned adjustments due to its warehouse structure and the existing expansion areas on the site. As part of a logistics masterplan, the planners developed a long-term planning horizon for the gradual expansion of the site in Nortmoor.
In a subsequent step, viaLog compared various automatic and manual system alternatives in order to find the optimum warehouse technology for the adaptations at the Nortmoor site.
The solution
In the system comparison, a shuttle warehouse with automatic conveyor systems proved to be the best and most economical solution for handling. The three-aisle shuttle warehouse offers 2,200 square metres of multi-deep storage with up to 75,000 bin locations for C-items from the dry range. 87 shuttles automatically store the articles, buffer and sequence them and transport them to a total of eight picking stations. By relocating around 4,400 items from the dry goods range and around 9,000 items from the e-commerce range to the new automated warehouse, the existing storage areas have been relieved both dynamically and in terms of capacity. This creates the basis for an increase in efficiency, including in manual logistics.
Support throughout the entire project
viaLog has been supporting the trading company Bünting in the further development of its logistics in numerous projects since 2008. viaLog accompanied Bünting through all phases of the shuttle project, from the strategic planning to the rough and detailed planning of the shuttle system, the tendering process, the realisation through to the commissioning and live start of the system. This ensured comprehensive cross-trade project management and the associated investment and planning security over the entire duration of the project.
Image: Bünting
Helge-Christian Eilers,
Managing Director of Bünting SCM/Logistik GmbH & Co. KG
“Coordinating complex projects, such as the realisation of the new shuttle warehouse, alongside day-to-day business can be challenging. The support of external project management was therefore very helpful for us. viaLog has a lot of experience in the realisation of large projects and, as a reliable partner, pushed for an economically efficient approach across all project phases.”
Shuttle warehouse can be expanded during operation
During the entire course of the project, the viaLog planners placed particular emphasis on enabling future expansions in the existing structure. In addition to an easy-to-implement – capacitive and dynamic – expansion, the picking stations, for example, can be doubled to a total of 16. Central conveyor elements have already been positioned and dimensioned with future requirements in mind. Automation approaches are also being examined for other article types and business sectors.
The highlights
- More efficient processes through centralisation of C-items and integration of the e-commerce business in a shared multichannel warehouse
- Relief of the existing warehouse infrastructure
- Significant increase in productivity in the dry product range
- Optimised use of existing capacities thanks to multi-deep storage with up to 75,000 container spaces
- Targeted, future-proof automation thanks to a capacitively and dynamically scalable shuttle warehouse