NEDRE VATS, NORWAY: AutoStore Holdings, the robot technology company that invented, and continues to pioneer, cubic storage automation, has received its first order for a multi-temperature grid, now also including a frozen temperature zone.
The new grocery offering enables retailers to achieve next-level warehouse efficiency and creating a better work environment for employees by decreasing exposure to cold temperatures as well as substantially decreasing energy costs.
“Managing grocery retail supply chains comes with unique challenges and demands specialized knowledge. The multi-temperature grid is one of our latest innovations, and we are excited to share this technology with our partners and customers. Our goal is to expand further within the grocery retail space,” says AutoStore CEO, Karl Johan Lier.
StrongPoint, a trusted AutoStore-partner since 2021, will install the multi -temperature grid for the Norwegian food distribution company, DLVRY, in a facility based in Sveio, Norway. The installation is set to start in the first quarter of 2023.
“This is a proud day for StrongPoint as we have the honour to design and install the world’s first fully integrated AutoStore-system that can handle all three temperature zones needed for grocery retail. We look forward to leveraging our 35+ years’ collective experience to create a solution that is purpose-built for food distribution at the highest possible levels of efficiency,” says StrongPoint CEO, Jacob Tveraabak.
The multi-temperature grid includes three temperature zones: ambient, chilled and frozen. The purpose behind the advanced technology is to meet increasing frozen food demands and enabling grocery retailers who are automating their e-grocery fulfilment services to replace their manual picking of frozen items.
Backed by the latest AutoStore technology, the multi-temperature grid can be installed in multiple discrete temperature zones ranging down to sub-zero temperature (-25 °C / -13 °F) and allows both fresh and frozen goods to be picked from the chilled-temperature zone (2 °C / 35.6 °F). The technology will create safer work conditions, as operators can stay outside the frozen environment when working.