The shift to online ordering has demanded the attention of virtually every grocery operator. As the volume of e-grocery continues to rise, grocers are in need to navigate these complexities and implement successful micro-fulfillment centers (MFCs) and larger e-grocery fulfillment centers (EFCs).
Today, the question of where fulfillment should be located in relation to customers and stores have been answered: the distribution strategy should be driven by order volume. With the performance and cost data available from successful MFCs and EFCs, the order volumes required to justify the investment in automation are now known and can be balanced with distance to the consumer to develop the most cost-effective distribution strategy for a particular area.
This has brought much-needed clarity to the development of e-grocery distribution strategies, and with the knowledge and experience available today from successful MFC and EFC implementations, they can move forward with confidence that they can achieve the performance levels and ROI they expect.
On the other hand, when evaluating the factors of what is the right choice, grocers that have deployed successful MFCs and EFCs have reached the same conclusion: the AutoStore system(link to closed autostore article) optimized by Swisslog SynQ software delivers the best balance of density, sustained throughput, flexibility and reliability.
A modular software platform, such as Swisslog’s SynQ, provides the flexibility to be deployed as a single platform that encompasses WMS and warehouse execution system capabilities or to integrate the platform’s warehouse execution system with the existing WMS. SynQ also integrates easily with ERP, e-commerce and order management platforms. When operating as the WMS, SynQ provides single-system control and orchestration of all the processes and systems within the fulfillment center.
