Australian supermarket group Drakes is to install Dematic’s robotic piece picking system in its new distribution centre in Adelaide – the first time a robotic picking system has been deployed in Australia, they say.
The A$80 million DC is being built on a 17 hectare site at Edinburgh North, north of Adelaide in South Australia.
“Our new facility will be the most advanced independent distribution and logistics centre in South Australia and is a key part of our group’s vertical integration strategy within the supermarket sector,” said Glenn Sutcliffe, logistics manager at Drakes Supermarkets. “We are excited that the centre will incorporate robotics as part of a wider high-tech warehouse picking system.”
Drakes has chosen Dematic’s RapidPICK 1-to1 goods-to-person solution including the Dematic Multishuttle buffering and sequencing system and robotic piece picking.
This is the first robotic piece picking module Dematic will deploy in Australia and only the second globally. The system will handle goods-to-person compatible grocery products in an ambient environment.
See the latest robotics and innovation technologies 
at The Robotics and Automation Exhibition which takes place at Arena MK in Milton Keynes from 10th to 11th October.
The exhibition has grown dramatically following the success of last year’s event and is on track to be three times the size.
The exhibition will also include a full conference programme Alex Harvey, head of robotics and autonomous systems at Ocado, will provide the opening keynote looking at the development of robotics in the warehouse.
