Partnership Katoen Natie and Intergamma leads to new storage and picking system with robots that never sleep

Cotton Nation en Intergamma  work for the e-commerce order deliveries of Intergamma's customers from now on with AutoStore, the fastest and most reliable order processing system per m² worldwide.

The cube-shaped automation system of approximately 900 m³ with 20 robots has been in use since the end of September 2023 on Katoen Natie's logistics platform in Kallo, the largest 'multi-customer' logistics platform in Europe. The installation and implementation is part of a joint future project between Katoen Natie and Intergamma in which their 10-year successful partnership was recently extended by 5 years. For Intergamma, Benelux market leader in the do-it-yourself market and in a strong growth phase, this means that all its e-commerce products will reach private consumers even faster and more efficiently. "For Katoen Natie, the accumulated know-how with AutoStore already becomes an additional incentive to attract new customers on our logistics platforms with innovative solutions," says Fernand Huts, Chairman Cotton Nation.     

Katoen Natie is implementing this goods-to-man automated storage and picking system for the first time on its logistics platform in Kallo. This implementation is part of the joint desire of Katoen Natie and Intergamma to continue working together future-proof. Katoen Natie Engineering Solutions,Katoen Natie's own research department, is also closely monitoring the process and operation and is exploring the opportunity to invest in additional AutoStore installations on other logistics platforms.

Intergamma in growth phase

In the Benelux, Intergamma is the market leader in the DIY sector with 3 formulas: GAMMA Netherlands, GAMMA Belgium and Karwei, accounting for 384 stores in Belgium and the Netherlands. "Continuous developments in Intergamma's online channels have caused volume increases," says Joost De Beijer, CEO Intergamma. "The new investment in AutoStore in collaboration with Katoen Natie is fully in line with our strategy in which e-commerce remains very important in the future and where we simultaneously make our supply chain more sustainable. We want to evolve into a 'one stop shop', where consumers can go to GAMMA and Karwei to tackle their entire job in one go and have their supplies delivered or collected wherever they want." Intergamma expects that the investment will ultimately lead to more capacity, flexibility, better reliability and also lower costs. 

How does AutoStore work?

Bins with stock are stacked 16 high next to and on top of each other in the grid. The grid is the aluminum rail system around the bins and robots, and is custom-built. Riding atop the grid are autonomous robots that continuously work together to retrieve stock for orders from the grid.

They do this by lifting bins from the grid and rearranging them until they have the correct bin. That bin is then presented to one of the 3 picking stations. The picker takes the goods from the bin and completes the order. The bin goes back into the grid. The algorithm always ensures that the stock for orders is picked in the most efficient way. This automation also has no impact on existing jobs because the pickers can now do more with the same team. Moreover, fewer picking errors occur, there is continuous stock management, optimal availability and no single point of failure.  

Robots that never sleep 

Online, customers can order until 9 p.m. and before 11 p.m., Katoen Natie will already hand off the packages to the carrier who will deliver the packages to the customer's door the next day. Katoen Natie goes to sleep at night, but the robots keep working. They make sure at night that the fast moving products of Intergamma are always in the top "drawers" of the grid and thus picked up fastest. Via the EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) electronic exchange system, all e-commerce orders for Intergamma are forwarded directly to AutoStore. In turn, AutoStore is also connected to Katoen Natie's existing packing automation. As a result, each box is also closed fully automatically after picking and not touched until loading.

Since September 25, a large part of the Intergamma products have already been picked by AutoStore robots at Katoen Natie, but from the end of October the anticipated stock of Intergamma will be in AutoStore. That will then account for more than 21,000 items spread across 31,000 bins, of which 6,528 are divided into 4 compartments. This brings the total to 50,584 locations with stock.