BY DAVID MALONEY, CHIEF EDITOR
LIGHT MANUFACTURING
strategicinsight
AUTOMATED STORAGE AND RETRIEVal systems are commonly used for storing
inventory in distribution centers, but they
can also support manufacturing operations,
including food production. Such is the case
with the automated storage and retrieval
system (AS/RS) at Feinkost Dittmann, one
of Germany’s leading suppliers of specialty
food products.
Founded in 1891, family-owned Feinkost Dittmann
annually sells over $160 million worth of specialty food
products, many of which have a distinct Mediterranean
flavor. Ingredients are sourced from all over the world.
For instance, olives and peppers might come from Greece,
Turkey, or Spain. Capers originate in Uzbekistan. Salmon
comes from Alaska and garlic from China.
Although Dittmann has processing plants in Turkey,
Spain, and Greece, its main production facility is located in
Taunusstein, Germany, where a few years ago, the company
built an automated warehouse to support production and
store finished goods.
“The company has grown very fast in the past 20 years,”
says Thorsen Reichold, Dittmann’s CEO. “Before the new
automated facility was built, we had to store products in an
outside warehouse about 30 kilometers ( 18. 6 miles) away.”
Shuttling products back and forth proved to be costly and
time consuming as well as error prone, he says.
“The main point was that we needed the space. We have
only a small amount of land, so that is why we decided to
build an automatic warehouse with systems that would
deliver the exact quantity of products when we need them
for production,” says Reichold.
The warehouse allows production to keep up with
growth as well as with customers’ demand for a wider
product mix. Currently, the company produces some 1,300
different items. These include fresh goods packaged for
immediate use as well as products in jars and pouches that
have a longer shelf life.
The facility experiences peak demand around the hol-
idays. It is particularly active from October through
December, with demand for the company’s fresh products
peaking during the 10 days before Christmas.
“Competition is fierce, so we need to make sure our processes are optimal,” says Reichold.
REACHING NEW HEIGHTS
The new high-bay warehouse stands 30 meters high (about
98 feet). Since local laws restrict a building’s height to just
10 meters ( 32. 8 feet), much of the warehouse was built
below ground level. Krones, a Germany-based supplier of
bottling equipment and material handling systems, provided the AS/RS and the warehouse management system
(WMS). The software integrates directly with the Microsoft
Dynamics NAV enterprise resource planning (ERP) system
that runs the overall operation.
Krones has a history with Feinkost Dittmann, as it supplied some of the filling equipment and labeling systems
used in the production areas. Nonetheless, the selection of
Krones to build the warehouse was the result of a chance
encounter, Reichold says.
“We started this project with another supplier,” he
explains. “Then, while we were meeting with the people
The right ingredients
A German specialty foods
producer needed a way to store
large quantities of raw materials
in a limited space. The answer
was a new high-bay DC with a
sophisticated AS/RS.
