Witron is building one of the most efficient logistics centers in the German-speaking world for the Rewe Group in Wiener Neudorf. With a usable area of 135,600 m², the facility will pick and pack over 600,000 retail units daily from a range of approximately 21,000 items.
The project will utilize 40 case-picking systems, OPM (Order Picking Machinery) and CPS (Car Picking System), which will fully or semi-automatically stack retail units onto pallets and roll containers, tailored to individual stores. A key feature of the CPS solution is that employees, guided by a pick-by-voice system, will pick items from a picking front equipped with layer trays, containers, and pallets, following optimized routes. Replenishment will be provided by stacker cranes.
Small-volume items are picked directly from storage containers into shipping containers at eight ergonomically designed workstations using the DPS solution – guided by pick-by-light. Here, too, the picking front is continuously and automatically supplied by stacker cranes.
The individual logistics areas are interconnected via a conveyor technology network. An intelligent consolidation strategy ensures that the load carriers for the branches are optimally compacted, resulting in savings on transport costs.
18 kilometers of conveyor technology
In total, the entire material flow system comprises almost 550,000 pallet, tray, and container storage locations, more than 100 stacker cranes, and over 18 km of conveyor technology. All IT, control, and mechanical components are developed and manufactured in-house at Witron's main plant in Parkstein.
The project is also designed with sustainability in mind. The logistics center, being built entirely on existing developed land, will become the new heart of Rewe's logistics operations in Austria and simultaneously serve as a flagship project for Rewe's logistics strategy. Construction is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2026, with the new distribution center planned to be operational by 2031. Where possible, the new Witron technology will be integrated into the existing buildings. Simultaneously, demolition work will commence to create space for the necessary new buildings on the developed site – all without sealing any additional land.
Witron is currently supporting Rewe Germany as an implementation partner in a comprehensive restructuring project at its Neu-Isenburg site, where a semi-automated case-picking system with aisle-bound picking vehicles is being replaced by the fully automated OPM system with 22 COM machines. The Rewe site in Henstedt-Ulzburg has also been equipped with Witron technology and is considered a benchmark within Rewe's German logistics network.
