FIEGE is building an automation project for Sportscheck. The logistics company from Greven will be setting up an Autostore at its multi-user facility in Apfelstädt, south-west of Erfurt, on an area of roughly 10,000 sq m. In the future, 270,000 containers will be moved in and out by 160 robots working at the FIEGE logistics centre based near the capital of the State of Thuringia. The investment total for the acquisition and integration of the Autostore as well as wide-ranging conveyor technology and automated packaging machinery which is to be completed by the end of 2022 and fully operational by summer 2023, exceeds €40m.
Since 2014, FIEGE has been handling, amongst other things, the merchandise for the sports shop retailer in Apfelstädt, taking care of warehousing, the Germany-wide supply of branches, e-commerce fulfilment and returns management, as well as B2C parcel freight within Germany and to Austria.
The warehouse system will replace the current pouch sorter, which will be available for other customers in the future. “Since the product range, the customers’ needs and therefore the requirements of the logistics concept have evolved over time, the addition of an Autostore is the logical continuation”, comments Stephan Wittenbrink, Managing Director Fashion & Lifestyle at FIEGE. “The flexible container storage system provides much greater storage capacity on a clearly smaller area and reduces the manual order picking input to a minimum. This then frees our employees of repetitive tasks and instead allows them to add value to process flows which in light of a shortage of skilled labour is becoming increasingly important.”
The Autostore is connected to the storage and automated packaging stations via special conveyor technology.
Source: FIEGE
