Norwegian retail company Coop Norge is expanding its fully automated picking system in its logistics centre with Witron during ongoing operations. The 84,000-square-meter facility near Oslo’s Gardermoen Airport is to be expanded with twelve additional Case Order Machines (COM) from Witron. This is expected to increase picking capacity to 690,000 pick units per day. The third expansion phase of the logistics centre is scheduled to go into operation in 2028.
Currently, the Oslo site supplies 1,200 stores with more than 13,000 items from the dry, fresh and frozen product ranges. At the heart of the facility is Witron’s Order Picking Machinery (OPM), which now operates with 42 COM machines in all temperature zones. With the expansion of the highly automated centre, the number of COM machines will increase to 54.
The logistics centre, which is equipped with Witron’s OPM, Dynamic Picking System (DPS), Car Picking System (CPS) and a fully automated shipping buffer, has been in live operation since 2014 and has already been expanded in two stages. Following initial commissioning, the site was expanded in 2022 with eleven additional COM machines.
Expansion based on long-term planning
The third expansion stage, which is now being planned, will be integrated into the existing building infrastructure. This is made possible by Witron’s forward-looking overall planning concept, which was designed from the outset to accommodate future performance increases.
The additional COM machines will be integrated into all temperature zones during ongoing operations: in the dry area at +18 degrees Celsius, in the fresh produce area for fruit and vegetables, and in the deep-freeze storage area at -25 degrees Celsius. This means that the OPM system will remain capable of handling the full range of products throughout.
Working together for more than ten years
Simultaneously, the upstream pallets and trays storage will be significantly expanded. A total of 136,000 additional storage spaces and 27 additional storage and retrieval machines will be created. The technology will be supplemented by additional conveyor systems, five additional depalletizers, and three film wrappers. This will enable the retail company to pick an additional 120,000 retail units per day for its stores in the future.
Coop Norge and Witron have been working together for more than ten years. “Witron systems have helped us save millions of euros annually,” says Coop project manager Ståle Nersund: “It was therefore clear that we would realize this expansion together with Witron and their leading logistics technology.”
