Robots for the supermarket

Drakes Supermarkets will be installing a robotic piece picking system in its new state of the art distribution centre (DC) in South Australia. It is the first time the robotic picking system will be deployed in Australia.
Drakes Supermarkets is one of Australia’s largest independent grocery retailers. The $80 million Drakes DC, which has received planning consent from the City of Playford and is fully funded by the South Australian family-owned business, will be located on a 17-hectare site at Edinburgh North and is expected to create up to 550 jobs.
“Our new facility will be the most advanced independent distribution and logistics centre in South Australia and is a key part of our group’s vertical integration strategy within the supermarket sector,” said Glenn Sutcliffe, logistics manager at Drakes Supermarkets. “We are excited that the centre will incorporate robotics as part of a wider high-tech warehouse picking system.”
To ensure high productivity and efficiency within the DC, Drakes has chosen Dematic’s RapidPICK 1-to-1 Goods-To-Person (GTP) including the Dematic Multishuttle buffering and sequencing system and robotic piece picking.
This is the first robotic piece picking module Dematic will deploy in Australia and only the second globally. The system will handle GTP compatible grocery products in an ambient environment.
“Some of the key benefits of the new Dematic system include the security of high-value items and increased pick rates, which meet Drakes Supermarkets’ needs in an increasingly competitive grocery sector,” said Terry Jamieson, business development manager at Dematic.
“As a business committed to continued growth, our goal is to build a new DC that allows us to offer the best level of service to our South Australian shoppers, as well as set the scene for our plan to expand nationally,” said Mr Sutcliffe.