Wirtz Beverage: Adding automation to the distribution mix

摘要

As the wine and spirits industry consolidates around fewer and larger distributors, leading players are looking to automation to transform their businesses. An industry that was once characterized by lift trucks, floor storage and manual palletizing is embracing high-speed conveyor and sortation systems, voice-directed picking, and a warehouse management system that can deliver cartons in the right sequence for delivery stops. In suburban Chicago, Wirtz Beverage Illinois is taking that formula to the next level of automation. A family-owned, multi-state distributor with 2,500 employees and revenues of $ 1.8 billion, Wirtz Beverage worked with a systems integrator (W&H Systems, whsystems.com) to consolidate operations from three facilities into one new 555,500-square-foot distribution center near Midway Airport in Cicero. In addition to the above technologies, the facility is one of the first in the industry to feature -an automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS; Westfalia, westfaliausa.com).