A glimpse behind the scenes: our new automatic warehouse and order picking system
You add your order to your online cart, finish the payment process and voila: a few days later, your new GIESSWEIN item is in your hands. In order for this to go smoothly, lots of different, important processes have to be coordinated with one another: from the production, to the maintenance of the online shop, to order picking and finally, shipping. Our warehouse—and all our hardworking employees—play a central role in all of this. In order to make the work easier on our team, and to make things even more efficient, our warehouse was converted to an automatic finished goods warehouse from AutoStore® in July 2020.
"The new AutoStore warehouse makes our picking process much more effective, and makes work easier for our employees. A win for the whole team." - Markus Giesswein
31 ROBOTS ASSIST OUR EMPLOYEES
The modern AutoStore® system revolves around 31 robots and 17,500 containers, which are spread out over 9 levels. With the help of their four pairs of wheels, the robots move along the 4.6 meter (15 feet) high scaffolding. The communicate with our control system via WIFI, and carry out each individual transport order. If their battery (or the workload) is low, the robots automatically drive themselves to their charging station on the outskirts of the structure. With this system, we are able to effect 140 storages and 900 retrievals per hour.
FROM THE ORDER TO DELIVERY - HERE’S HOW THE AUTOSTORE® SYSTEM WORKS
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First, all of our products—from our Merino Shoes to Wood Sneakers, to slippers and clothing items—need to be stored. Then, these products are placed in containers, which we call “pins,” by one of our employees. A pin contains multiple boxes of the same product, in the same size and color. For example: black Wool Sneakers in size 41.
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Then, after you place your order, it’s given over to the AutoStore® System.
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The robots get their assignments from the command system, collect the pins with the items that you’ve ordered, and bring them to the work stations of our employees who are order pickers.
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Our employees take each individual product out of the pin, scan them, and put them into the shipping box with your delivery slip. When our employee scans each item, our warehouse stock system is automatically updated.
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Then, your package makes its way to the packing station via a conveyor belt. There, your package is closed with a gluing machine, given to the post office and picked up by the logistics company that will deliver it.
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Just a couple days later, your GIESSWEIN order arrives to your house…and hopefully, brings a big smile to your face! 😊
