Reesink Logistic delivers small parts warehouse to alpha trading

The specialist in the distribution of non-food products and fulfillment service provider for online commerce, alpha trading solutions, is optimizing its processes in the areas of warehousing, order picking, shipping, and packaging. With an AutoStore from Reesink Logistic Solutions, the company will utilize a digitally connected, intelligent logistics system in the future.

(Press release; Vienna/Erding) For its logistics center in Erding, alpha trading solutions has ordered an AutoStore system from the integrator Reesink Logistic Solutions, which is expected to be operational by early 2022. At this location, alpha is already taking care of complete e-commerce fulfillment for its customers or individual process steps such as dropshipping and operating online shops (B2B/B2C). Thus, the fulfillment expert acts as a contract logistics partner for startups as well as established companies of all sizes, ensuring that products reach end consumers effectively while also listing goods on numerous revenue-generating online shops and marketplaces through existing ERP system integrations.

The product portfolio that alpha keeps ready for shipment includes not only the PlayStation 5, vacuum robots, or gaming monitors but also smaller items such as the new FIFA football games, merchandise, or toys. With the high growth rates in online commerce since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, alpha has significantly expanded its e-commerce sector. For both tasks, the service provider requires high speed in the picking of shipping and packaging orders.

Order picking switched to goods-to-person

Peaks in order picking and sales campaigns are a common occurrence for the specialist logistics providers, while seasonal peaks pile up simultaneously for almost all their customers. Particularly during the Christmas season, alpha trading solutions has thus far relied temporarily on seasonal workers and assistants. To make the picking of shipping and packaging orders more efficient, alpha has decided to not only automate processes with the AutoStore warehouse but also to switch to the goods-to-person principle instead of person-to-goods, thereby minimizing walking distances for employees. This way, the service provider can handle demand peaks with its regular staff after the adjustment of shipping processes.

Given the speed and performance of the AutoStore system, alpha trading solutions initially requires a system with 5,600 bins. After all, the items stored in it are of a very small size. In this configuration, even a small team can achieve a daily throughput of nearly half of the stored product assortment with the system. With three ports, around 3,500 bin deliveries are possible daily during shift hours from 6 AM to 11 PM. The carousel ports used allow a maximum throughput of 210 bins per hour in conjunction with six robots. In addition to the speed reserve, the company benefits from the high process reliability that AutoStore enables. Due to the automatic delivery, picking errors during order fulfillment are significantly less frequent than would be the case in a manual warehouse with a person-to-goods organization. This safety advantage benefits not only the excellent quality of the specialist service provider but also the cost-effectiveness of the processes. This is because the return rate also decreases simultaneously.

High process reliability and growth reserve

“AutoStore not only creates growth reserves, but it will also solidify the structure of our processes. With the automatic warehouse and the elimination of many walking paths for our employees, we achieve a whole new level of efficiency in order picking,” reports Michael Simic, Deputy Operations Manager Logistics at alpha trading solutions. “Just as our customers benefit from us taking over their logistics tasks, the high-tech logistics solution from Reesink Logistic Solutions gives us the freedom to deploy our personnel even more intensively for value-added services instead of mere picking.” The AutoStore warehouse of alpha trading solutions at a glance

• 600 bins
• 6 robots
• 3 carousel ports
• up to 210 bin deliveries per hour

Photo: © Reesink Logistic