Doubling of logistics capacities with greater reliability and faster delivery speed.
Expansion of the existing e-commerce logistics center in Willisau by 20,000 sqm of storage space, with fully automated high-bay warehouse and conveyor connection to an inventory system
Construction of a medium-sized parts warehouse (97,000 storage locations for trays, 20 BOXer storage and retrieval machines at 19 m each), a high-bay pallet warehouse (26,600 storage locations, 7 MASTer SRMs at 34 m each) and a cassette warehouse (1,330 locations for large products) as well as kilometers of conveyor technology
Constant availability for over 250,000 products from more than 6,000 manufacturers, despite pandemic-related rapid growth and sustained high demand from over 1.2 million private and business customers
Ad-hoc full expansion in less than 18 months, remarkable double-play performance with low emission sound pressure level, 170 pallets/h each in collection and provision
BRACK.CH is a Swiss trading company and operates one of the leading Swiss online stores with six theme worlds at brack.ch. The company supplies private, business and institutional customers and is part of the Competec group of companies.
In order to optimally meet the rapidly increasing demand for e-commerce and the expectations of online customers in terms of delivery speed and flexibility with a growing range of products, Competec decided to expand its logistics center in Willisau, one of the most modern in Europe, by 20,000 m² to a total capacity of 75,000 m² and to equip it with state-of-the-art plant technology. With the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting boost in e-commerce, the phased planning from 2019 turned into an ad hoc full expansion for CHF 70 million in June 2020, which went live at the end of 2021 - less than 18 months later.
In order to be able to store the enormous variety of products, from USB sticks to party tents, fully automatically and make them available for picking, the project was divided into a high-bay pallet warehouse (with 26,600 locations for Euro 1 and standard pallets and 1,330 locations for steel cassettes) and a middle section warehouse (for 97,000 trays).
In the first step, the high-bay pallet warehouse, which is divided into two sectors, was put into productive operation at the end of 2021 with seven standard MASTer SRMs and a stacker crane with a reinforced load handling device for heavy weights. The 34 m high automation solution achieves 215 double cycles per hour for pallets (up to 600 kg) and 85 double cycles for (steel) cassettes (up to 900 kg). This means that up to 170 pallets per hour are fed into the system cycle and made available.
A short time later, the central parts warehouse with 20 BOXer stacker cranes went online. They are 19 m (205 feet) high and achieve a remarkable performance of 1,800 double cycles per hour at peak times - with a low emission sound pressure level thanks to the decoupled travel and guide rails.
The entire silo-based high-bay pallet warehouse was inerted as part of the active firefighting measures. All eight aisles of the high-bay warehouse are also connected to the incoming and outgoing goods conveyors.
The 80,000 storage spaces in the medium-sized parts warehouse were fully utilized within a short period of time. The remaining almost 20% additional capacity now serves as a buffer for major promotions such as Black Friday.
"A lack of space is no longer holding us back and thanks to automated processes, we are in an excellent position to continue offering our customers the best customer experience online in the future and to top the shopping experience once again." Competec owner Roland Brack at the handover of the keys on March 17, 2022.
