Dematic says it will partner with Dot Foods, the largest food industry redistributor in North America, on Dot Foods' first fully automated warehouse.
The new 117,000-square-foot facility will be a key strategic asset for Dot Foods' frozen food distribution, providing new efficiencies and a path for future growth, Dematic said.
“We’re taking our toughest picking job in our harshest work environment and transferring that to robots,” said Joe Tracy, Dot Foods CEO. “This is a way to address our business growth and handle the volume we know will need to move through our Mt Sterling warehouse in the years to come. We do unique things in our business that require human touches—that will not change. The combination of people and technology will be central to our future growth and allow us to provide exceptional service to our customers.”
The facility operation will be directed by Dematic technology and feature an Automated Storage and Retrieval System (AS/RS) to manage inventory of full pallets, along with robotics to pick strategic layers of product for Dot Foods customers.
“Dematic was pleased to partner with Dot Foods to design a solution that increases their ability to deliver a superior level of service to customers by increasing efficiency, capacity and output,” said Bernard Biolchini, CEO of Dematic Americas. The new fully automated warehouse, powered by Dematic iQ software, will provide Dot Foods the flexibility to build and configure orders faster and more accurately, increasing order fulfillment capabilities for today’s dynamic demand.”
Construction is expected to begin in 2020, with the facility becoming operational in 2021.
