Leading German drugstore operator dm is planning an additional small item distribution centre at its logistics site in Wustermark near Berlin, which will use robotics from Austrian specialist TGW Logistics for picking. With the Pickcenter Rovoflex, TGW offers a new type of automatic picking system with six-axis robots that continuously improves its own work through AI. It can be used in a hybrid mode for both manual and robotic picking.
TGW’s innovative Rovoflex system measures items in real time, enabling it to operate without any master data, according to the manufacturer. Among the first users of the combination of TGW’s Pickcenter with its Rovoflex picking robot, which was first introduced in 2024, are Intersport in Austria with its location in Wels and the Swedish supplier of medical supplies OneMed in its distribution centre in Gothenburg.
As The Retail Optimiser learnt, dm plans to use these picking robots not only in its future small parts distribution centre in Wustermark, but also in its planned second distribution centre in Austria, which will be built in Kronstorf, Upper Austria, with a size of 43,000 square metres and is scheduled to go into operation in summer 2028.
dm has already pioneered the use of robotics for picking store pallets at its distribution centre in Wustermark, which went into operation in 2020. The technology there does not come from TGW, but from Kuka and its subsidiary Swisslog, and made its debut in Wustermark. The Retail Optimiser reported.
Growing cosmetics range
With the additional construction of a distribution centre for small item picking at the same location, which will start soon, dm is responding to the growing range and increasing demands for small items such as decorative cosmetics. Construction is set to begin soon, with commissioning planned for 2029. dm is investing more than 200 million Euros into the expansion.
“The capacities at the logistics centre for small parts and decorative cosmetics in Weilerswist near Bonn will not be sufficient in the future to serve the growing product range and increasing demands,” explains Wulf Kristian Bauer, dm’s managing director responsible for logistics. “The Weilerswist site will remain an important factor in ensuring reliable supply to dm stores.”
Nuno manages construction project
In addition to TGW, the FC Group is involved in project controlling and client support, logistics consultancy Nuno in project management and architecture firm Phase 5 in the general planning of the construction.
