Picnic was founded in Amersfoort, Netherlands, in 2015 and has become a leading e-food provider within just a few years. In Oberhausen, an innovative robot system from TGW automatically loads transport racks with customer orders in the fulfillment center.
The company operates in the Netherlands, Germany, and France. Orders can be placed via an intuitive app, and deliveries are made using environmentally friendly electric vehicles. Customers who order by 10 p.m. receive fresh, chilled, and frozen groceries delivered conveniently to their doorstep the very next day – and can choose from a selection of 10,000 products. Thanks to the "milk-running" system, deliveries arrive precisely on time.
In the heart of the Ruhr area
To further accelerate its expansion in the German market, Picnic built a highly automated fulfillment center in the heart of the Ruhr region. The high-performance system, planned and implemented by TGW Logistics, enables optimal customer service with maximum efficiency.
At its heart is a shuttle warehouse where 1,500 robots move autonomously. Food and non-food items are stored there in three temperature zones ranging from minus 18 to plus 20 degrees Celsius.
Orders originate at one of more than 60 ergonomic PickCenter order picking workstations or in zone picking: this area primarily contains high-volume products and fast-moving items. Orders are then consolidated in a buffer.
Milk run with TGW
Shortly before the trucks depart for the local distribution points, the containers are transferred to a robot-assisted system developed by TGW Logistics, which automatically loads them into transport racks. Up to 33,000 orders can be processed per day.
“The fulfillment center is a milestone and marks the next level of collaboration between Picnic and TGW Logistics,” says Bart van Eycken, Director of Sales for the Customer Unit North at TGW Logistics.
Picnic co-founder Frederik Nieuwenhuys adds: “The combination of the Picnic tech team and TGW technology demonstrates that we can offer our customers even better service and thus set industry standards.”
