As one of the leading global providers of intralogistics automation solutions, Swisslog is making great strides with the SAP EWM warehouse management system alongside its own SynQ software platform. The company recently secured three global projects with a combined value of over 17 million euros, and a significant element of these involves SAP EWM integration.
These orders were placed by Festo, an automation technology specialist from Germany to build a new, state-of-the-art logistics hub in Shanghai; Aqipa, a consumer electronics distributor from Austria who will use SAP EWM to control its AutoStore facility near Innsbruck; and Bühler, a Swiss technology company for its new Customer Service Hub in Switzerland.
All three cases call for a combination of the AutoStore compact storage system and SAP EWM. This will allow Swisslog to further cement its position as the world’s number-one AutoStore provider.
“We are delighted that our development of the standard AutoStore concept with SAP EWM offers real added value for our customers. The orders we have secured will allow us to demonstrate our SAP expertise in the market even further,” explained Alain Kaddoum, General Manager of Swisslog Middle East.
AutoStore is an automated storage and retrieval system, which uses radio-controlled, battery-powered robots who move along a grid on top of stacks of bins. The robots lift bins from the stacks and deliver them to the operator at the picking station, after which the robot returns the bin to storage. AutoStore is a giant leap toward making supply chain management more efficient as it offers a 50% increase in picking speed, a 60% reduction in inventory storage footprint and a 90% improvement in picking errors over non-automated distribution centers.
SAP EWM is a highly standardized and efficient warehouse management system for manual and automated warehouse solutions with material flow functionality that allows the direct connection of PLC-level controls. The high level of standardization minimizes risk of error and failure rates in daily operations, resulting in a high degree of employee satisfaction and ensuring maximum throughput.
“At Swisslog, we are dedicated to finding the most innovative solutions in Logistics Automation to improve our customers’ operations. Our solutions have provided our customers with significant improvements in logistics enabling optimal usage of the same space,” commented Alain Kaddoum.
In the Middle East, Swisslog has deployed its automated logistics solutions across multiple sectors including e-commerce, retail, food & beverage. Till date, the company has signed a total of seven large-scale projects in the UAE, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), and Kuwait with a value of over USD 100 million.