The brilliant minds behind Asia's leading benchmark in automated warehousing

#Comprehensive Solution Integrating Physical and Digital Worlds

In recent years, we've been inundated with promotions about unmanned warehouses and automated storage facilities. However, have you ever wondered how these automated warehouses can meet the operational demands of the new retail era? Such demands include coordinating the entire supply chain, including logistics and omnichannel synchronization with terminal stores. They also involve meeting requirements for split picking and dispatch across different channels, and ensuring efficient inventory allocation.

Amidst these doubts, one might question if such an ideal warehouse exists in reality.

Perfect Fusion of Physical and Digital Worlds

Yes, it does!

As the leading supermarket in Hubei Province, Zhongbai Group manages various formats such as supermarkets, convenience stores, and department stores. With the business's expansion, challenges like integrating multiple formats, handling small batch, multi-batch deliveries, high rates of split picking, limited storage space, and frequent out-of-stock issues have become more pronounced in their logistics operations.

In response to opportunities in the new retail era, Zhongbai Group has constructed a comprehensive solution that perfectly integrates the physical and digital worlds.

Physical World: Leading Automated Storage Benchmark in China and Asia

Seizing the opportunity for transformation and upgrading, Zhongbai Group invested billions in Phase 1 of their project: a central warehouse consisting of a four-floor structure covering a total area of 65,000 square meters for storing and dispatching ambient temperature goods.

The entire central warehouse boasts advanced logistics automation technology. It features a vertical storage system capable of operating at speeds up to 200m/min with a payload capacity of 1500KG, providing nearly 20,000 pallet positions. Additionally, it includes high-precision positioning technology for slider-based high-speed sorting machines, with a repeat positioning accuracy of less than 1mm and sorting speeds reaching 10,000 items/hour. This setup easily accommodates nearly 100 goods exits. The warehouse also incorporates single-aisle automatic replenishment systems handling approximately 400 boxes/hour, as well as various equipment such as four-way shuttle systems, replenishment shuttle cars, AGVs, conveyor lines, and electronic tags.

As China's first fully automated retail distribution center, how does it operate?

Inbound Process: Implements automated full-pallet entry into the vertical warehouse and intelligent designated storage shelf placement based on various storage operations.

In-Warehouse Process: Modular management of floor-by-floor zones ensures no interference between modules. For instance, the vertical warehouse stores whole goods, while flow rack shelves on different floors handle split items. Shared inventory across floors allows replication of production line-style operations, laying the groundwork for Zhongbai's all-channel inventory operations.

Outbound Process: For picking whole items, products are picked based on type using high-speed sorting machines in automatic mode. The complex split picking process, which constitutes 70% of operations, employs relay picking models for AB product DPS and RF picking models for C products. Automated replenishment of high-volume items like super A and A products is achieved using the automatic replenishment mode of vertical warehouses and pallet shuttle cars.

Consolidation Process: Uses conveyor belts and layer-crossing mechanisms for goods transport and cross-belt sorting machines for store sorting operations. It can simultaneously handle outbound volumes for 400 stores in a single wave. Store distribution strategies are based on store-requested orders, with four waves of goods collection and delivery based on system calculations, each wave involving 2-hour picking and delivery times.

In the physical world, Zhongbai Group has established a benchmark for automated warehousing in China and Asia, capable of meeting daily outbound volumes of 40,000-50,000 boxes and peak outbound volumes of 120,000 boxes, covering the distribution needs of over 1200 warehouses, supermarkets, and convenience stores.

Digital World: Creating a Digital Supply Chain Middleware Solution

Such a large-scale and complex warehouse operation cannot function smoothly without a robust digital world support.

According to reports, Zhongbai Logistics' original logistics and warehousing system, WMS, has been in use for many years. It was originally designed for traditional offline store logistics centers, featuring a single, outdated technical architecture with dispersed data across systems. This setup posed limitations in supporting new business formats, new business types, and the operations of central warehouse automated facilities.

Given these challenges, Zhongbai Logistics turned to TTX, a professional third-party system solutions provider, to unify the Zhongbai central warehouse's information platform for visualization, standardize logistics management, and streamline order processing.

In response to these demands, TTX spent nine months developing a digital supply chain middleware solution for Zhongbai Group. The solution integrates high levels of automation, fine-grained operational management within warehouses, and end-to-end visibility. It effectively connects the physical and digital worlds of Zhongbai's central warehouse.

The Zhongbai system encompasses various retail formats, each with its own demands. Suppliers and goods owners' orders are highly dispersed, necessitating the implementation of an OMS implementation plan by TTX to integrate ERP systems from multiple formats. This plan established a unified order reservation management system, enabling intelligent distribution of order information based on attributes and multi-dimensional multi-level inventory across Zhongbai Logistics' various warehouses. It also integrated Wujiashan and Hanpeng logistics center businesses, reducing overall warehouse area and enhancing operational efficiency.

In the second phase, TTX launched a WMS implementation plan, highly integrating dozens of devices in a white box or black box manner, including AS/RS, four-way shuttle cars, AGVs, and conveyor lines, making it one of the most comprehensive equipment integration projects in the industry.

The central warehouse's business logic and rules are managed through the WMS system, controlling picking strategies, shelf placement strategies, replenishment strategies, relocation, crossover, and consolidation through flexible configuration of equipment scheduling logic to optimize business changes.

Goods receiving and classification management: The incoming goods are checked for warehouse receipts and linked to pallet containers, with the vertical warehouse reading pallet codes. WMS allocates storage locations for paperless management, automatically guides SKU attribute classification, and dynamically defines capacities based on region, accommodating goods owners and inventory utilization. The system's rules engine dynamically establishes relationships between goods and locations.

Operation task splitting management: The WMS system can generate different picking modes based on system configurations, such as single-order picking, whole-box task picking, split task picking, zone-relay picking, zone picking merge, and single-picking of irregular goods. These modes can be flexibly configured based on goods owners, order types, order structures, and other features, without the need for customization. Goods in the central warehouse can be assigned different operational areas based on different ABC classification principles, with corresponding equipment and operational strategies. Tasks are split based on order analysis and wave strategies to meet the refined management requirements of outbound picking operations.

Multi-mode replenishment management: Planned tasks can be set to automatically calculate replenishment quantities based on overall demand. When the consumption in the AA area falls below safety stock levels, automatic replenishment tasks are triggered. AA-class area full-pallet automatic replenishment ensures that goods are not returned to the warehouse, and empty pallets are recycled through stackers after picking completion.

Accurate real-time visualization management: A unified logistics visualization management platform has been established, making the entire set of equipment and systems in Zhongbai's central warehouse no longer a "black box." It ensures traceability and visualization of logistics resources, addressing Zhongbai's initial demands. TTX has also set up various monitoring dashboards to instantly grasp warehouse operation dynamics, swiftly identify and resolve anomalies, and provide real-time data analysis by integrating supply chain information, supplier delivery, and customer distribution information to drive logistics center inbound and outbound operations.

Additionally, TTX integrated TMS and park management systems to achieve intelligent appointment scheduling, intelligent dispatching, and vehicle visualization management.

To adapt to future complex and changing business forms, TTX configured over 30 task assignments, enabling operations for high-difficulty niche business scenarios such as multi-location automatic replenishment and multi-product automatic replenishment. The system no longer requires additional development; all fields exhibit high configurability, flexibility, and strong scalability.

Overall, the digital supply chain middleware solution serves as a bridge connecting Zhongbai's central warehouse physical and digital worlds.

Xie Liufang, General Manager of TTX Central China Branch, stated that over 95% of the project's goods achieve fewer than two manual interventions from entering to leaving the warehouse, with some goods requiring no human intervention. Compared to equivalent scale inbound and outbound volumes in the past, average labor efficiency has increased by more than 2.5 times.

"The First Person to Eat Crab"

After seamlessly integrating the physical and digital worlds, Zhongbai's central warehouse not only meets the requirements of integrating online and offline business, inventory management, and the new retail era's demands but also supports the evolving trends of its business over the next five years. Moreover, it serves as Hubei Province's emergency distribution mobilization center, playing an active and core role in ensuring the turnover of livelihood materials.

Xie Liufang told Rogo Net · Logistics Salon that the Zhongbai case is actually a project with significant challenges and a very high level of risk.

Firstly, the project had a strict timeline for delivery, but it coincided with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan.

Secondly, this was not a turnkey project. Typically, an automated warehouse project would have an integrator responsible for integrating various automated equipment systems. However, the Zhongbai Logistics project was divided into multiple sections from the selection phase, split into consulting, multiple hardware, and software sections, which is extremely rare in the industry. Therefore, the system complexity and the difficulty of communication and coordination between hardware manufacturers were higher than usual, making implementation difficult and the task heavier.

At the same time, over ten sets of automated equipment data systems needed seamless integration within the warehouse. Due to the industry's specificity, business chain frequent market changes, and large daily throughput demand, the cost of the project is significantly increased, far exceeding the industry's usual level.

Xie Liufang believes the key to the success of the Zhongbai Logistics project lies in its comprehensive business and technological integrity, as well as the leadership's profound understanding of the entire business process and details. In the absence of existing reference cases, Zhongbai opted for a fully automated solution, earning the reputation as the "first mover" in the retail industry.

For Xie Liufang, transparency and a high level of understanding of the entire business process are crucial qualities demanded from all suppliers by Zhongbai Logistics leadership. This means all suppliers must demonstrate their capabilities and team strengths as they are seen as integral and "transparent" parts of the project.

TTX played a crucial role in helping Zhongbai Group establish the first fully automated distribution center in the retail industry, hailed as a benchmark project for automated warehousing in China and Asia. TTX's digital supply chain platform overcame challenges in information sharing between multiple systems, enabling seamless communication across different business formats.

During the implementation of the project, there were challenges such as tight deadlines, heavy tasks, and high urgency requirements. However, the TTX team managed to efficiently and effectively complete the project implementation and execution. The commendation letter from the first party emphasized TTX's professionalism and support during the implementation of the WMS project for the central warehouse, affirming that TTX played a key role in ensuring the smooth operation of Zhongbai's operations.

In summary, Xie Liufang attributes the success of winning this project mainly to TTX's support and the expertise of the advisory team, as well as the decision-making and execution capabilities of Zhongbai's leadership. In the era of digital supply chains, achieving full process automation requires strong leadership decision-making and the support of a professional team. Zhongbai has succeeded remarkably well in this regard, setting an example and leading the industry forward.