Food retail logistics for the entire supply chain

With us, grocery shopping becomes easy and comfortable. Since every business is unique, we focus on what exactly your business needs. We bring the shopping experience right where your customers are. When your customers move between online and offline, we want them to have a pleasant user experience and great service. We create the right logistics solution for you.

Along with delivery to stores for brick and mortar retail, new business models are becoming increasingly important: omnichannel, multichannel, seamless commerce and urban networks. 24/7 online shopping and flexible last mile concepts. Contactless in-store solutions and sustainable empties handling. We have intelligent automation solutions to optimize all of the process and value chains. No package is complete without modern software, including applications in artificial intelligence.

We are the right partner for

Have we sparked your interest? Take a quick look at our solutions and customers. Or contact us. We look forward to meeting you.

Anton Tschurwald & Christoph Lafer, Vice Presidents Retail Solutions

Rudolf Hansl & Werner Lichtenegger

Vice Presidents of Food Retail Solutions
We want to work with you to develop the best tailor-made logistics system. The essential element for all of this is a holistic view of you and your project.

Online fulfillment

Fresh groceries at a click

Solutions for successful e-commerce fulfillment in food retail

Online Food Retail, Food, Lebensmittelhandel, Zustellung, Home Delivery

Today, consumers who shop online expect a wide range of products, perfect service and flexible solutions for the last mile. We offer concepts that can grow with your business, coming from many years of experience in single item picking, a necessary ingredient for successful e-commerce fulfillment. For your business.

E-Grocer at a glance

  • Flexibility and profitability
  • Gentle product handling through correct sequences
  • End-to-end software
  • Same-day and express delivery
  • Picking perfectly coordinated with departure times

Online food retail: Flexible last-mile concepts with MFCs or CFCs.

The demands in grocery e-commerce are as varied as the assortment. Our proven technologies dovetail perfectly with your business concepts, from semi- to fully automatic.

Our E-Grocer concept for online food retail offers solutions for every size and shape of population density. They cover everything from the large central fulfillment center (CFC) for far-ranging supply territories to the small micro fulfillment center (MFC) for supply to urban neighborhoods. Medium-sized suburban fulfillment centers (SFC) and contactless in-store concepts round out our portfolio of solutions. Our New Urban Logistics initiative equips food retailers with the tools they need to adapt their urban omnichannel networks to local needs.

Advantages

  • 24/7 online shopping
  • Best quality and fresh products
  • Fast and easy home delivery or pick-up

Central online fulfillment at REWE

REWE invested in an automated food fulfillment center (FFC) in Cologne. Thanks to the innovative automation solution, the entire range of goods is delivered fresh to the customer in the best quality. Orders arrive conveniently at the customer’s door on the same or the next day or can be picked up at a pickup station.

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Perfect e-commerce processes

Our E-Grocer CFC solution offers the ideal combination of manual and automatic processes. This not only means rapid order processing, but also reduced costs as well as order lead times. Thanks to sequencing by customer and optimal delivery routes, the groceries arrive at customers’ homes fast and fresh. Highly automated processes gently handle the more than 20,000 products. Furthermore, the cold chain is maintained in all areas. When making deliveries, planning the route ideally is essential. REWE’s customers benefit from the smooth-running logistics. They receive the best and the freshest. On time, right on their doorstep.

Highlights

  • OSR Shuttle™ for storing and picking fresh and shelf-stable goods
  • OSR Shuttle™ for sequencing, consolidating and shipping
  • Pick-it-Easy work stations for ergonomic and efficient grocery picking
  • Dollyloader for fully automatic stacking of order containers according to optimal delivery route

Micro fulfillment: Automated miniature warehouse right in the store

With E-Grocer MFC (Micro Fulfillment Center) and our partner Takeoff Technologies, we offer an e-commerce solution connected to a supermarket, which is especially suited for food retailers in urban areas. This turnkey product provides rapid start for a low cost. A direct connection to the store means that consumers have the full range of products available for their online orders. Orders are therefore rapidly processed. Intelligently combining manual and automated processes means that orders are ready for pick up or delivery within 30 minutes. Last mile costs are also comparatively low. For our MFCs, we also offer a special service solution – our Multi-Site Control Center.

We can fulfill orders five times faster and are in the right position for further growth. We feel good about where we’re at.

Jewel Hunt
Group VP eCommerce, Albertsons

Our concept gives us a head start of several years on the competition. The experience gained implementing several MFC solutions for various food retailers is why we are ahead. With E-Grocer MFC, we have put a standardized modular product on the market. Retailers can have efficient e-commerce fulfillment in just a few weeks.

Advantages

  • Turnkey product for a rapid start
  • Low entry costs
  • Space-effective, flexible, scalable
  • 13 weeks installation time
  • Uses existing infrastructure
The image shows a Pick-it-Easy work station and an employee with his back to the camera. The employee prepares e-commerce orders for shipping at this ergonomic work station. A screen shows all the steps that he must carry out in this process. He receives precise instructions, for example, which item should be positioned in which bag. After completion, the grocery bags are ready for delivery to the consumer.
The image shows a Pick-it-Easy work station. A detailed look shows the employee placing fresh foods in crates, and preparing e-commerce orders. Oranges, grapes and tomatoes are in the crate.
The image shows a Pick-it-Easy work station and an employee from the side. His gaze is towards a screen, which shows which food to place in which bag. He places an item in a container with his left hand.

Our MFCs are in use around the globe for various food retailers including:

  • Sedanos
  • Albertsons
  • Wakefern Foods
  • Loblaws
  • Woolworths
  • Ahold Delhaize
  • Carrefour

Robotic supermarket: MFC at Sedanos

Sedanos is one of the leading local food retailers in Miami, Florida and is one of our first customers to implement an MFC with us. By investing in an MFC, Sedanos has made things easier for its customers, making shopping more convenient than ever. The heart of the solution is our OSR Shuttle™ Evo. It is a highly flexible, space-efficient storage and picking system that can be scaled according to order volumes. The Pick-it-Easy work stations link the shuttle system and the employees. At the ergonomic work stations, user friendliness plays an important role. It raises both the picking performance and the picking quality, ensuring that the right items always end up in the right shopping bag. Customer orders are ready to be shipped or picked up within 30 minutes.

Highlights

  • OSR Shuttle™ Evo
  • Pick-it-Easy work stations
  • Open Shuttles

MFC: Customer proximity and efficiency for Intermarché

In contrast to classic MFC solutions, Intermarché’s automated warehouses in Lyon and Paris are not attached directly to a supermarket but are instead independent dark stores. Each MFC delivers the online orders to 15 to 20 stores within a 25-kilometer (15-mile) radius.

The MFCs automatically process 80 % of the article range, while the remaining 20 %, which includes very specific items and freshly prepared such as cheese and meat, is processed in the stores.

Options for the last mile

Intermarché offers different options to their customers for the last mile:

  • Curbside pickup at the store of their choice
  • 24/7 lockers
  • home delivery

Advantages

  • Space-saving storage
  • Productive picking
  • Reliable system
  • Short training times
  • Low investment

The MFC is a system that offers maximum flexibility, productivity and reliability in large cities. The increase in productivity allows us to not only achieve a higher economic performance but also increased flexibility in meeting our customers’ requirements.

Cédric Lebastard, Verantwortlicher für die Automatisierungsprojekte der Supply Chain für den E-Commerce, Intermarché
Cédric Lebastard
Manager of supply chain automation projects in the e-commerce segment at Intermarché

Urban networks

New logistics concepts that are right around the corner

Omnichannel brings seamless commerce to the real world

The image shows a mobile end device operated by a woman. The woman holds the tablet in her left hand and operates the touch screen with her right. Around the screen is a graphic representing a world in a network of data. The graphic and icons are emblematic for services provided by the internet such as online shopping, email, locations, etc.

A contactless in-store experience at the point of sale. Customers switch easily between online and offline.

But how is this possible?

We are creating intelligent new solutions for urban areas through our initiative, New Urban Logistics. These solutions form the link between the online shop and the brick and mortar store. The task is to integrate people, processes and information and to offer flexible last mile solutions that are tailored to your omnichannel business. Our intelligent technologies help food retailers to design their perfect urban fulfillment network to be expandable and flexible enough to respond quickly to changes in the business.

In the market, it’s becoming more and more important to think in terms of networks. The networks are rich in opportunity, depending on the number and size of the orders, and will offer even more flexibility in the future.

Rudolf Hansl, Executive Vice President | Director Food Retail Solutions
Rudolf Hansl
Vice President Food Retail Solutions, KNAPP Systemintegration GmbH

RetailStore: Turning shopping into an experience

Our in-store concept, RetailStore, combines the best of brick and mortar and online shops. We create a unique customer experience right at the point of sale. The heart of this is an intelligent picking system, which stores and handles a comprehensive array of goods in a space-effective and theft-proof space. The solution is complemented by features such as interactive screens.

Omnichannel fulfillment

All sales channels seamlessly connected

Omnichannel brings seamless commerce to the real world

The image shows a mobile end device operated by a woman. The woman holds the tablet in her left hand and operates the touch screen with her right. Around the screen is a colorful graphic representing a world in a network of data. The graphic and icons are emblematic for services provided by the internet such as online shopping, email, locations, etc.

Omnichannel is not only the supreme challenge but also the future of logistics. It fuses traditional and digital retail and linking all sales channels. This is how seamless commerce becomes reality.

But how is this possible?

Omnichannel is a system for all business cases. One warehouse can ideally handle both the processes for e-commerce and the processes involved in delivery to stores, as well as combined processes. Depending on which segment needs more capacity, this concept responds flexibly to changing order volumes. Despite the differences in the final form of packaging, only one central warehouse is needed with the OSR Shuttle™ Evo. This way, synergies can be used to best effect. Depending on the customer’s requirements, we offer a fully or semi-automatic solution.

With omnichannel we have found a way to optimize productivity and order fulfillment and to minimize the size of the warehouse.

Bill Stenger, Director Food Retail Solutions KNAPP North America
Bill Stenger
Director Food Solutions, KNAPP North America

Goods-to-person work stations form the interface between people and machines. They are adaptable and reduce strenuous, monotonous tasks. At the same time, they provide the best possible order fulfillment and raise delivery and service quality. At the work stations, small quantities can be picked directly into the pockets, and store-friendly pallets or roll containers can be manually packed.

Our omnichannel solution is also available as a fully automatic concept. Our robots handle the processes, with RUNPICK packing the pallets for store delivery and Pick-it-Easy Robot picking the orders for e-commerce.

Omnichannel at a glance

  • Handles all processes in one warehouse
  • One solution for all sales channels
  • Stores entire range in one warehouse
  • Picks single items and pack units
  • Reduces costs and saves space
  • Uses synergies

Full automation with robots

Artificial intelligence for food retail

Gentle product handling in fully-automatic warehouses

Robots are used for automation in many areas of logistics. They use their artificial intelligence to improve quality, efficiency and performance. Where resources are lacking, robots step in, increasing quality and profitability. Humans and robots complement each other perfectly. A robot never gets tired and can carry out tasks over a long period of time with consistently high quality. By comparison, a human can respond quickly and flexibly to new requirements. This is right where our solution for the food industry comes into play: RUNPICK and Pick-it-Easy Robot.

Fully automatic full case picking

RUNPICK was specially developed for the food retail sector and stands for Robotic Universal Picker. The system picks and palletizes large handling units and fills orders for brick and mortar retail fully automatically. It processes handling units for fast, medium and slow movers from both the shelf-stable and the fresh food assortment. RUNPICK builds mixed pallets and roll containers and is well-suited for supplying stores with different structures. The system can grow with the requirements of the customer and as the market develops.

The great advantage that RUNPICK offers is handling a variety of packaging types, processing them fast and efficiently using multiple-item picking. The system can pick up and put down several items in one cycle. This significantly increases performance compared to existing systems. Several handling units can be positioned simultaneously on the target load carrier. Thanks to packing algorithms, selectable picking criteria and the ability to handle various types of packaging, store-friendly delivery to brick and mortar stores is a done deal. KiSoft Pack Master calculates the ideal packing pattern. This is how RUNPICK works automatically, filling customer orders.

RUNPICK at a glance

  • Picks multiple items in one cycle
  • Takes the strain off employees
  • Improves picking quality
  • For fast-, medium- and slow-moving items
  • Handles products gently
  • Integrated quality control
  • Allows rapid changeover of load carriers
  • Handles errors automatically

Robotics for e-commerce

Tomatoes, bananas, eggs. With so many different types of foods to pick, gentle handling is a must. Our Pick-it-Easy Robot gently and reliably picks up a variety of groceries and carefully puts them down, working 24/7. Thanks to intelligent Vision systems for object recognition and grip point specification, the robot learns as it works. It continually teaches itself the new articles and improves its performance. Machine learning is the key to the Pick-it-Easy Robot’s ability to know how to best pick up an item, automatically selecting the right gripper and grip point. The robot is flexible, delivers consistent high performance, and can ideally be integrated into existing concepts.

A few years ago, we were sure that we’d be able to process 15 percent of items for food e-commerce using KNAPP’s Pick-it-Easy Robot. We now know this figure is closer to 50 percent. I believe that we could use the robot not just in the picking area, but also in the decanting area.

Zvika Fishaimer Shufersal Food Retail E-Commerce CFC
Zvika Fishaimer
Executive Vice President HR & IT Shufersal Ltd.

Pick-it-Easy Robot at a glance

  • Picks a wide range of items
  • Handles groceries gently
  • Corrects errors automatically
  • Uses machine learning algorithms
  • Consistently high performance
  • Low-maintenance and robust
  • Works 24/7
  • Picks more than 600 items/hour

Automated store delivery

Solutions for brick and mortar retail

The secret behind full shelves

The image shows a male supermarket employee filling shelves with fresh fruit. He is looking directly into the camera and is smiling. At his side are crates with fresh fruits and vegetables, for example, pineapples, apples, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, zucchinis and so on.

The bagel for your breakfast, ingredients for your weekend meals or utensils for spring cleaning: We can find everything we need on a daily basis at our neighborhood supermarkets. But what goes on behind the scenes to keep those shelves full?

Our solutions for brick and mortar food retail are ideally suited to meet the requirements of the retailer and include semi- to fully automatic concepts. Each store has individual requirements for order fulfillment. The following criteria play a role:

  • Store-friendly delivery
  • Customer-specific sequencing
  • Packing parameters

 

With Flexible Case Picking and FAST Picking, our solutions for store delivery, we offer ideal solutions for brick and mortar retail.

At a glance

  • Efficient store delivery with fully automatic or semi-automatic solutions
  • Automation that is effective over the long term
  • Coverage of the complete range
  • Efficient storage and delivery
  • Ergonomic picking
  • Optimal support in B2B distribution
  • Precise sequencing
  • Future expansion and possibilities for adaptation

Deliveries to brick and mortar retail must be adapted to the store layout. The sequence on the load carriers is the important factor. With our solutions, order fulfillment is flexible and makes the work for employees easier both in the warehouse and at the stores.

Thomas Pötsch
Director of Product Management, KNAPP Systemintegration GmbH

Automation solutions tailored to every requirement

Flexible Case Picking gives you the agility to handle fluctuations well. Retailers can achieve the maximum in flexibility and reliability. Despite its semi-automatic nature, the system performs at the same level as a fully automatic solution.

Core components of Flexible Case Picking:

OSR Shuttle™ Evo
Pick-it-Easy Case
RUNPICK
Open Shuttles

Flexible processing of standard handling units

The fully automatic FAST Picking solution makes fast, economical and error-free order fulfillment in different standard handling units possible. Employee strain is reduced to a minimum.

How FAST Picking works:

Fully automatic depalletizing machines and destackers gently and efficiently prepare the groceries for storage.

OSR Shuttle™ Evo handles order storage, sequencing and picking.

KiSoft Pack Master calculates the optimal packing arrangement to increase pallet stability and packing density.

Fully automatic stackers and palletizing robots build shop-friendly store pallets.

The robust Powerline pallet conveyor system and the high-performance Streamline container conveyor system link the innovative technologies.

Complete flexibility for store delivery

SPAR makes store-friendly deliveries to more than 200 stores from the Ebergassing distribution center. The warehouse is one of the most innovative and environmentally friendly of its kind. SPAR had particular requirements for the adaptability and scalability of the concept which would enable them to respond to fluctuations. Manual tasks also had to be reduced to a minimum. Our automated systems provide the ideal support to the employee, allowing a rapid increase in throughput. The picking sequence is tailored to each individual store.

SPAR_Ebergassing_Standort_HEADER
The image shows an ergonomic Pick-it-Easy Case work station. A male employee is assembling an order manually for store delivery.
The image shows an ergonomic Pick-it-Easy Case work station with a monitor. The monitor is a visual aid to the employees as they assemble orders. The image also shows a tray with mineral water.

KNAPP has been our reliable partner for over 25 years, and we are convinced that they can create the ideal solutions for our requirements.

Portrait of Martin Gleiss, Head of Group Logistics and Goods Flow at SPAR Österreichische Warenhandels AG.
Martin Gleiss
Head of Group Logistics and Goods Flow, SPAR Österreichische Warenhandels AG

Flexible, space-effective processing of standard handling units

Dagab delivers fresh groceries to more than 600 stores and small distribution centers from its DC in Jönköping. With our fully automatic FAST Picking solution the broad assortment is processed economically and without errors. This means efficient, on-time delivery to the stores.

The image shows an outside view of the Dagab Inköp & Logistik AB, Axfood distribution center. In front of the warehouse are several trucks, lining up at the docks to pick up fresh foods for delivery to the stores. The dagab logo is displayed on the building.
The image shows a fully automatic depalletizing station for the gentle and efficient storing of foods. These robots use a clamping mechanism to separate the containers and place them on the conveyor. These load carriers are automatically transported onwards.
The image shows a fully automatic depalletizing station for the gentle and efficient storing of foods. These robots use a clamping mechanism to separate the containers and place them on the conveyor. These load carriers are automatically transported onwards.

Empties management

Sustainable logistics for reusables

Efficient empties management

The image shows a woman in sunshine drinking a beverage from a glass bottle. The sky is deep blue. The glass bottle is in focus.

The trend in beverage packaging is clearly moving towards reusables. With our solutions for empties management, we complete the circle in food industry. Sustainability and efficiency take top priority: It starts with sorting and recognizing individual bottles and continues on to stock management, to cleaning and finally to the deposits.

From the receiving of empties at the reverse vending machine to the pick up by the producers – all processes are transparent and completely traceable. All the processes that take place after the point of sale are designed efficiently and save resources.

Florian Nickmann
Head of Engineering and expert in empties management, KNAPP Systemintegration

Bottle and crate sorting

Unsorted empties from grocery retail are prepared for further use by our Reusables Management Solutions (RMS). Our modern technologies quickly sort the returned empties, so they are completely unmixed when returned to the producers. The degree of automation can be adapted precisely, and solutions can be manual, semi-automatic or fully automatic. Different kinds of sortation are available because the type needed depends on the turnover rate of the empty bottles, crates or handling units. Along with bottles and bottle crates, standard reusable handling units are also relevant. We also have the right concept for these, from cleaning them to providing them in unmixed stacks for reuse. In bottle sorting, we provide bottlers with crates of sorted bottles. Bottle sorting robots process the bottles fully automatically.

RMS at a glance

  • Efficient returns management processes
  • Customer-specific concepts for bottle and crate sorting
  • Ergonomically designed work stations to ease employees’ workload
  • Transparent and traceable processes
  • Automation where it makes sense
  • Quick and accurate deposit crediting for stores

EDEKA Rhein-Rhur and t-log rely on RMS for empties management

In 2010, when the solution at EDEKA had its go-live, it was already considered one of the most modern sorting systems in Europe. Image recognition and robot technology automated the processes. The returned empties are quickly sorted and provided to the beverage producers as single varieties. Central to the solution is KiSoft RCS, our handling unit software. Material flow, empties management and the correct booking of the goods are all managed by the software. The solution is continuously updated to make the allocation of beverage crates to the areas even faster and more reliable. This also allows also to save both time and costs as well as manual post-processing.

We are very satisfied with how we implement projects with KNAPP. Everything always runs smoothly – from project planning to installation to startup. The results often exceed our expectations and it is often possible to achieve higher performance than planned. We are looking forward to future projects with KNAPP.

Dirk Bleck EDEKA Food Retail Customer
Dirk Bleck
Department Manager, Empties, t-log trinklogistik GmbH

Solution highlights

  • 80,000 crates/day
  • 2.2 million crates/month
  • Efficient bottle sorting robot
  • Innovative logo and image recognition
  • Precise crediting of deposits
  • Sustainable processes
The image is an overview of our sorting system at EDEKA Rhein-Ruhr/t-log. Stacked beverage crates can be seen in the foreground. A robot depalletizes beverage crates layer by layer and transfers them to a conveyor for further processing.
A large number of unsorted single bottles can be seen in the foreground. In the center of the image is a robot with grippers taking single bottles out of beverage crates for sorting.
A high-performance robot depalletizes the empties pallets.

Long-standing partnership in empties management

Cleanaway Österreich sorts reusable handling units from the SPAR supermarket chain at ten locations – all with the help of our Reusables Management Solution (RMS). Our semi-automatic sorting system separates standard handling units automatically and provides empties as unmixed stacks for further use. The system really takes the strain off the team. Cutting-edge image recognition technologies mean that the exact deposit values are booked for each store. The system features the KiSoft Reusables Control System (KiSoft RCS). As the central element in the solution, KiSoft RCS coordinates complex material flows, manages all empties and books them quickly by store.

We are using a KNAPP empties solution at ten of our locations. The solution benefits the food retailers, since the empty handling units are fully traceable. It’s a plus for the manufacturers too, who at the end of the process are supplied with unmixed empties, ready for further use.

Portrait Manuel Praxmerer, Cleanaway Österreich GmbH, General Manager, RMS, Food Retail
Manuel Praxmarer
General Manager, Cleanaway Österreich GmbH

Solution highlights

  • Automatic deposit value and logo recognition systems
  • Sorting lanes for beverage crates and foldable crates
  • Fully automatic destacker for TANN totes
  • KiSoft RCS (Reusables Control System)
  • KiSoft Transport
  • KiSoft Command
A beverage crate being moved on the conveyor system. The beverage crate runs through a recognition system that identifies the empties. In the process, a picture is taken of the beverage crate and saved in the system.
Front view of a fully automatic destacking machine that separates totes for meat and meat products. The tote stacks are transported to the machine on the conveyor system. Clamps grip the totes and separate them. The totes are placed on the conveyor system one by one and move on for further processing.
Front view of a sorting lane. The empty handling units are conveyed to the sorting lanes, where an employee takes the reusables from the conveyor and stacks them on unmixed pallets behind them. This image shows several beverage crates arriving at the work station, at a perfect height for the male employee to pick up.

Have we sparked your interest?

We look forward to hearing from you.