Article

Witron system aims to fully automate shelf replenishment

The experimental SRS concept could eliminate empty shelves and aisles full of product pallets.

May 26, 2009 by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

If there is anything more frustrating to a customer than an empty shelf, perhaps it is tripping over the employee who is cutting open case boxes of products and trying to fill that shelf. Both headaches would become distant memories if the German logistics company Witron is successful with its new SRS, or Shelf Replenishment System.

The company's roots are deep in supply chain and inventory management — it counts supermarket giants like Kroger and Supervalu among its clients, for whom it develops and deploys automated warehouse picking solutions. Now, it is working to automate the "last mile" of the supply chain process: getting products from the back room onto the shelf.

"A lot of grocery stores are open 24 hours, so when do you really get to replenish the shelves?" asked Brian Sherman, business development manager for Witron. "Sometimes there are stock-outs during the day and you need to get people to replenish, and now you're in the way of the shoppers. We say, let machines do the replenishing, and do it from the backside."

story continues below...

The Best Retail Customer Experiences 2009

Find out which retailers consumers crowned their favorites in five different categories across eight different retail segments. Get authoritative analysis from members of the Retail Customer Experience Advisory Panel on why these retailers are succeeding. And learn which retail technologies win over customers — and which ones don't matter.

Order your copy today!

Robotic shelf replenishment — how it works

The SRS uses an intricate series of conveyor belts, lifts and sensors to bring products out of the backroom, up into the air, across the store, then down behind the appropriate shelf. Once the products are lined up with their shelf, another conveyor belt kicks in to push them forward, which in turn pushes the boxes and cans already on the shelf to the front — in effect, causing all products to be perfectly faced at all times.

Automated shelf replenishment system from Witron

Conveyor belts bring product from the stock room, and replenish shelves from behind.

An employee in the back room receives a notification when a certain item has fallen below a predetermined stock level; he then retrieves the needed quantity of that product, scans it, then puts it into the conveyor system. The product is delivered and stocked, invisible to any shoppers that might be in the aisle.

Obviously, such a system will never be right for a whole store — big bags of dog food and fresh produce will always need to be stocked by human hands. "But when you're talking canned goods, cereals, even drink products — these types of things have good stability, they won't tip over, they won't get messy or break," Sherman said. "I'd estimate maybe half of the store might be applicable for this." He said two of his company's major European supermarket clients are considering test installations of the system.

Sherman couldn't say how much a retailer might expect to pay for an SRS implementation.

"We're still making sure that it pays for itself," he said. "I wouldn't say this is easily retrofitted, but certainly any new store development might see great benefit in it."

He said he sees potential for the technology in small and discount retailers — like shoe stores or small apparel stores, for instance — which usually have only one or two people working at any given time. "These types of stores have very disorganized back rooms, so we would be able to make it a very efficient back room," he said. "One person puts the product on the machine, and then he doesn't have to be walking a cart or a pallet through the aisles."

Will automated shelf replenishment work?

Even if Witron can make the system work from a technology standpoint, the question remains as to whether retailers will want it. Dan Weiss, the director of operations strategy for Restoration Hardware, said it might be fine for grocery stores and some departments within a big box, but he doesn't see it as practical for any sort of specialty retail.

"Shelving, racks and tables are designed for a specific aesthetic and merchandising goal," he said. "(They are) often done in a way to tell a story about a specific product, product line or collection."

Inventory and supply chain consultant David Armstrong, who has managed inventory operations for companies as diverse as Flextronics, Mead and Hunter Douglas, worries about how elaborate the system is.

"There seems to be an awful lot of complex, interconnected hardware and software required to make this work," he said. "Where there is complexity, many things can go wrong. So while there may be a trade-off through the reduction in stocking labor by using this system, there will likely be an addition of maintenance personnel required to keep it up and running."

Weiss also worries about ROI, which Sherman acknowledges is still being researched. After all, that person you see prowling the bread aisle at Meijer making sure Aunt Millie's shelves are always full and tidy isn't a Meijer employee, he's an Aunt Millie employee — so, in some cases, the SRS would transfer the cost of replenishment from the brand to the retailer.

Even so, Sherman and his company are optimistic.

"This is still a dream, but we're hoping," he said. "We've been able to pull off miracles before."