New «robo-warehouse» ready for action in time for Christmas

Digitec Galaxus’s newest warehouse has just opened its doors in Wohlen in the canton of Aargau. A new type of warehouse robot will be working in the facility – moving freely between the shelves, climbing the storage racks with their cogwheels and transporting containers filled with products from A to B.

The warehouse is swinging into action just in time – the pre-Christmas period is Digitec Galaxus’s busiest time of year. «Without the robots, we wouldn’t be able to handle all the orders coming in at this time of the year,» says Michael Stolle, COO at Digitec Galaxus.

35,000 orders per day

The new facility consists of a 10,000-square-metre floor space equipped with 12-metre-high shelves. It’ll allow Digitec Galaxus to manage 240,000 containers capable of holding between 500,000 and 700,000 products in total. All of these products are small, ranging from mobile phones to printer paper to nursing pads.

The warehouse consists of 15 stations. It’s here the employees pick orders from the storage containers, placing them straight into delivery boxes.

Digitec Galaxus uses six machines to pack the orders. First, they cut the height of the boxes to fit the contents. After that, they give them a lid and shipping label.

The facility is designed to handle a total of 35,000 parcels per day, with employees packing around two thirds on site. All other products are transported via conveyor belt to another room. Once there, they’re packed into delivery boxes alongside products stored at the same location. Alternatively, products are sent to customers as flash deliveries without packaging or taken to our stores for collection.

Between 50 and 60 logistics employees spread over two shifts will be working at the new facility during peak season. The first shift starts at 5 a.m., with the second finishing at 11 p.m.

Digitec Galaxus set to continue expansion

«We’re getting everything we can out of our central warehouse in Wohlen,» says Michael. The new robotic facility is part of the expansion of the second warehouse on the site (building in the middle of the photo below). Three quarters of the warehouse is currently occupied, while the addition of another robotic facility is set to occupy the full space by 2025. «From 2026 onwards, we’ll urgently need additional capacity for our Swiss business.»