Asda takes dedicated e-commerce store into operation with the help of Vanderlande
Jun 22, 2011
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Asda, one of the top supermarket retailers in the UK andowned by US giant WalMart, have seen strong growth in businessgenerated from its on-line shopping operation. In fact, Asda.comachieved record sales in 2010 and expects this to grow further in 2011.
Up until 2010 all internet orders were satisfied from the retailsupermarket stores. In some areas of the country store capacity wasmaximised so Asda piloted a dedicated centre in the Leeds area. Thiscentre is equipped with shelving to hold the complete range of ambient,chilled and frozen product on offer. Internet orders are picked on twolevels before being consolidated at ground level then being loaded ontodelivery vans. The pilot, run as a manual process has proved sosuccessful that Asda are embarking on a roll out strategy to establishdedicated semi automated fulfilment centres at several chosenlocations. The first in Enfield, North London went live in August 2010.
Vanderlande Industries was selected to supply the materials handlingsystem not only at a competitive price but, also having significantexperience with similar e-commerce solutions for another major UKretailer. The design offered by Vanderlande also provides flexibilityfor expansion in the future.
"The new facility enables Asda to grow its on-line market share in aregion where it's constrained with normal store capacity, says GraemeDouglas, Supply Chain Director Asda.com. Due to the potential size ofon-line demand our new facility firmly establishes our infrastructureto deliver Asda price and every day low cost to more and more potentialcustomers in the future. It also allows Asda to offer a broader rangespecifically to meet our customers needs. The centre has beendesigned to meet these needs, on a large scale, but in an efficient andcustomer focused environment."
E-commerce order fulfilment centre opened for business
The site is operational 24/7. Order picking will mostly occur duringthe day under the control of the ASDA host system. Goods are pickedinto order totes from shelving laid out in the style of a supermarket. Individual pickers work within defined zones within the shelving area,and only pick goods that are stored within that zone. Each picked totecontains either a complete or a partially complete customer order. Aspart of the picking process, an order label is printed and applied toeach tote. Included on the order label is a three-digit load number,which equates to a particular dock door. The clients host systemassociates the order label with the tote identifier.
Totes areplaced onto the system in a random sequence and a belt conveyortransports them from the picking area and via a sorter to themarshalling areas adjacent to the dock doors. Gaps are automaticallyintroduced between totes before they are presented to a barcodescanner. Prior to sorting the scanner reads the three-digit load numberon the totes order label and the control system determines the correctdestination and orientation for each tote. The position of each toteis tracked automatically from the point at which its order label isscanned. After being scanned the totes are transported to one of ninedestinations.
When the tote reaches its destination on theconveyor system it is sorted to an outfeed spur. Each spur servicestwo van routes, each van route has its own dock door. The two dockdoors are situated to the left and one to the right of the spur. Ifnecessary, totes are turned 180after the barcode scanner, so that theorder label is presented to face the correct dock door.
A vanroute is made up of several customer orders with each customer orderusually containing multiple totes. For multi-tote customer orders, theopportunity exists for the operators in the marshalling areas toconsolidate partly filled totes to minimise the number of totes loadedonto the vans. The totes are sorted into the correct van round,delivery sequence, then married with chilled and frozen product whichis picked manually in temperature controlled areas. Van loading willtake place between 07:00-19:00 hours.
In addition to supplying the system Vanderlande Industries havesigned a contract with ASDA to provide help desk support and to servicethe system 3 times per year.
Looking towards the future, plans are already being discussed with Vanderlande to accommodate for future growth.
