AutoStore Delivers 10x Warehouse Capacity for GLS

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Grocery Logistics of Singapore (GLS) is a subsidiary of FairPrice Group Supply Chain and a key player in Singapore's retail logistics sector. As the primary distribution partner for NTUC FairPrice, Singapore's largest supermarket chain, GLS manages over 1.2 million square feet of warehouse space and operates a fleet of more than 100 delivery vehicles to distribute fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) across the country.

Facing the challenges of rapid e-grocery growth, GLS turned to AutoStore, empowered by Swisslog, to automate its warehouse operations. AutoStore's automated storage and retrieval system transformed GLS's distribution capabilities, supporting both traditional retail and their burgeoning e-commerce platform, FairPrice On, setting new standards for efficiency in Singapore's competitive grocery market.

The implementation of AutoStore has dramatically boosted GLS's operational efficiency, resulting in significant improvements in both throughput and productivity. This transformation has fueled substantial business expansion for GLS and strengthened the overall resilience of their supply chain in Singapore's fast-moving (FMCG).

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The Challenge: Overcoming Space Constraints and Inefficiencies

GLS faced significant operational hurdles as Singapore's e-grocery market began to boom. The company was grappling with a series of interconnected challenges that threatened to impede its growth and operational efficiency. Although the company’s existing warehouse was operating at capacity, land is scarce in Singapore, limiting their options for expansion.

Compounding this spatial challenge was the inefficiency of GLS's manual picking processes. Before automation, the company struggled to fulfill just 500 daily orders, relying on hardcopy stock lists and RFID scanners. This slow, labor-intensive approach created bottlenecks, hampering GLS's ability to meet the surging demand in the e-grocery sector.

The human element of these challenges was equally pressing. GLS faced a persistent shortage of warehouse staff, a problem exacerbated by the physically demanding nature of the work. Manual picking posed risks of injury from repetitive lifting. At the same time, the complex manual system meant lengthy training periods for new hires. These human factors contributed to additional issues such as order errors and damaged goods, impacting customer satisfaction and operational costs.

GLS recognized the need for an automation solution that could easily integrate with their existing infrastructure. The ideal system needed to be modular and make use of their high ceilings and large loading bays.

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The Solution: Automation for Scalable E-Grocery Fulfillment

In 2016, GLS’s initial implementation of AutoStore enabled FairPrice to efficiently store and manage a vast inventory of over 13,000 products in more than 20,000 Bins, with the capacity to process up to 3,000 orders daily. The impressive productivity and capacity gains achieved through this system prompted the company to expand.

The infrastructure was more than doubled, increasing the number of Bins to 48,000, and tripling the Robot workforce from 55 to 150. Robots work on a 20,000 ft2 (1,858 m²) grid. This expansion marked a significant milestone, as it became the first system in Southeast Asia to integrate multiple robotic technologies, including a pioneering picking tunnel. The AutoStore system integrates with several components in the warehouse for a streamlined and fully automated fulfillment process:

• Goods-to-Person Picking: AutoStore Robots retrieve Bins and deliver them to pickers at designated workstations, significantly reducing physical strain for staff, and improving efficiency.
• Order Picking: At the workstations, pickers assemble the full order, placing items into Bin totes. The totes are then transferred via a conveyor system for consolidation.
• Automated Palletizing: Once delivery is scheduled, robotic palletizers provide consistent and efficient preparation of orders for dispatch. They pick the totes and arrange them onto pallets.
• AGV Transport: Autonomous Guided Vehicles (AGVs) then transport the prepared pallets to the dispatch area, reducing manual handling and improving overall warehouse logistics.
• High-Speed Operations: AutoStore is the heart of the warehouse, acting as the central fulfillment machine that drives the other operations. It ensures high-speed, 24/7 performance with 100% uptime (measured over 4 years), reliably supporting peak periods and festive seasons without disruption.

Choosing Swisslog

With a partnership spanning more than two decades, Swisslog emerged as the top choice when GLS sought a new automated solution for their facility. A key partner of GLS since their first project in 1999, Swisslog's deep understanding of the business has continuously driven productivity improvements through data-driven and robotic solutions for logistics automation.

"GLS needed a solution that was reliable, scalable, and offered exceptional storage capacity," said Ang Kheng Cheong, Project Manager at Swisslog. "We recommended the AutoStore solution because it perfectly aligned with their needs. AutoStore offers the highest storage density on the market, with its bins capable of holding a vast number of SKUs in a compact space."

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Key Benefits: Multiplying Capacity, Minimizing Effort

The implementation of AutoStore has driven significant improvements across GLS’s business, touching on aspects of space utilization, workforce management, and overall supply chain resilience.

• Space optimization: 10x increase in warehouse capacity, efficiently using vertical space without extensive racking.
• Improved efficiency: 4x faster picking speed, increasing daily order fulfillment from 500 to 4,300 orders (760% increase), with peak capacity reaching 5,500 orders (1000% increase).
• Scalability: The system’s modular nature allows easy expansion and 24/7 operation, especially during peak seasons.
• Reliability: Exceptional uptime performance with zero downtime recorded in the five years since implementation, ensuring continuous and uninterrupted operations.
• Reduced errors: Improved order accuracy and decreased risk of human error and injury.
• Energy efficiency: Energy savings during stationary periods in off-peak hours.
• Fast learning curve: 30-minute training for new hires, who simply need to press a few buttons with a user-friendly interface.
• Employee satisfaction: Reduced physical strain and increased job satisfaction.
• Improved quality control: More time for careful product selection and damage inspection.

AutoStore has also played a crucial role in the success and expansion of the FairPrice On website and mobile app, now used by over one million customers in Singapore monthly. Toh Hui Leng, Chief Operating Officer at GLS, explains: "By implementing AutoStore, we have successfully achieved our initial goals and objectives for this solution. This includes meeting our key performance indicators and ensuring smooth operations throughout."

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A New Era of Efficiency and Resilience for GLS

The implementation of AutoStore has brought GLS dramatic improvements in operational efficiency and employee well-being. Mohammad Khairul, Senior Operation Executive at GLS, notes, "Workers are definitely happier now because there's less physical movement required. Their legs aren't sore by the end of the day, even though they're completing more orders than before."

Toh Hui Leng, Chief Operating Officer at GLS, underscores the system's reliability: "For the AutoStore system which we have been operating for the past four or five years, it has consistently provided reliable support, even during our busiest festive periods. … After running it for about six months, we decided to proceed with the second phase of implementation due to the growing demand and our satisfaction with the solution." Emphasizing the system's robustness, Toh adds, "We are proud to say that we have not experienced any instances of the entire system going down."

Project Specifications

• Implementation type: Brownfield (Existing site)
• Robots: 150 Robots
• Workstations (Ports): 25 CarouselPorts, 7 ConveyorPorts
• Bins: 48,000 Bins
• Grid size: 20,000 ft² (1,858 m²)
• Temperature: Ambient (50-60% of total order profile)
• Integrated technology: Conveyor technology, Palletizing robotics, AGV Robotics, integrated with FairPrice On’s e-commerce platform
• Warehouse Management System: SynQ Software
• Integration partner: Swisslog

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