these technologies are used in combinations that are not yet
available to facilities in the United States.
The upgraded distribution center is one of the most
advanced operations for home delivery in all of Japan. “We
can now handle 43. 6 billion yen of product here each year,”
reports Hiroki Tanaka, the facility manager. That translates
to about US$385 million worth of products. Tanaka works
for Mitsubishi Shokuhin, a third-party logistics company
that specializes in food distribution. It manages the Kobe
facility for CO-OP and is a logistics division of the giant
Mitsubishi conglomerate.
THE COLD FACTS
Working in arctic-like conditions is not enjoyable for any-
one. That’s why machines perform much of the work in
the freezer area, where frozen goods are stored at minus
25 degrees Celsius (minus 13 degrees Fahrenheit). Similar
automated systems store refrigerated goods at appropriate
temperatures.
Suppliers deliver their products each morning to the
12 receiving docks. (An exception is fruits and vegetables,
which are picked in the morning and arrive in the after-
noon.) Almost all items will remain in the building for only
a short time—half a day or less, as most products will ship
out later the same day. After receipt, the automated systems
take over nearly all processes.
Palletized products are first conveyed to a six-aisle auto-
mated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS). The system
has four aisles for frozen goods with a capacity of 424 pal-
lets. The two remaining aisles of the AS/RS handle refriger-
ated goods with 242 pallet storage positions.
Cases of products arriving from the pallet storage system
