The Client

WinCo Foods, an American supermarket chain operating in 10 states, is renowned for its comprehensive range of products, including bulk foods, fresh produce, meats, and bakery goods. Established in 1967, WinCo stands out as an employee-owned entity with over139 stores, making it one of the largest ESOP companies in the U.S.

The Challenge

Due to store growth, WinCo Foods needed to expand their operations to address increased store order volume. Capacity was constrained due to higher inventory levels necessary to service that growing demand. Orders needed to be pulled and prepared for outbound shipment faster, with less reliance on labor.

The Solution

WinCo partnered with KPI Solutions to design a new automated solution that leverages multiple material handling and robotic technologies. An AutoStore system was deployed for break pack order fulfillment.

Covering less than 8000 square feet of space, AutoStore is designed to house over 3,000 SKUs, running 75 R5 robots with 18,500+ bins. A robotic tote buffer and robotic palletizing were also deployed to increase order throughput and reduce needed labor. KPI’s WES directs a Geekplus Robo shuttle system to pick up completed order totes from the conveyor and deliver them to a buffer storage area.

The Robo shuttle stores order totes until the entire store order pallet has been picked complete. It then retrieves the totes from storage and delivers them to a queue conveyor feeding a robotic palletizer. The robotic palletizer then automatically palletizes to multiple store order pallets.

Operators remove completed store order pallets, and the robotic palletizer replaces the pallet from the stack of empties.

The Value

• High-density storage allows an expanded number of SKUs in less square footage.
• Labor productivity and order accuracy has increased.
• Fewer FTEs are required.
• Improved worker health and safety due to custom ergonomic port design and robotic palletizing.
• Order turnaround time has decreased.