Grocery retail today faces escalating challenges marked by rapid change, increasingly complex product assortments, and rising customer demands for faster delivery and seamless availability. Efficient processing of high-volume material flows, particularly in full case handling, has become critical for maintaining competitiveness and meeting these expectations. At the heart of addressing these challenges is intelligent software that integrates and optimizes the entire palletizing process.
TGW Logistics, with over 25 years of focused experience in grocery retail, especially in freezer and temperature-controlled applications, stands out as a key player in Europe. The company claims a comprehensive portfolio covering all temperature zones—from ambient dry goods to fresh and frozen foods down to -22°F (around -30°C)—which facilitates automated handling of pallets, roll cages, and thermocontainers. This end-to-end capability supports the grocery sector’s need for flexible, reliable systems that maintain product integrity across diverse environmental requirements.
A core strength of TGW’s offering lies in their in-house developed technologies, including a high-performance palletizer capable of packing over 700 units per hour. Its modular design ensures high redundancy and easy maintenance access, critical factors in maintaining uptime for demanding grocery operations. Complementing this are depalletizing systems with varying automation levels tailored to handle diverse packaging types and highly dynamic shuttle warehouses featuring multi-SKU trays. These trays increase storage density and enable flexible, precise picking, while exact sequencing mechanisms ensure goods flow efficiently from storage to palletizing and onward processes.
Central to this technological ecosystem is TGW’s modular software platform, WERX. Developed by a specialised team of over 700 experts, WERX orchestrates the control, optimisation, and visualisation of all material flows within a facility. The software’s intelligence extends across the entire intralogistics chain, blending warehouse management with robotics and conveyor technology in a seamless interface.
One standout feature of WERX is its advanced palletizing software, designed to maximise packing density and maintain optimal packaging stability through intelligent algorithms. These algorithms constantly evolve, tested and refined within demo and test environments to ensure practical, robust solutions. Artificial intelligence plays a prominent role in both palletizing and depalletizing operations. TGW deploys AI-powered, camera-based systems that learn autonomously from error patterns in real time, reducing operator interventions by as much as 30%. This continuous learning not only improves system reliability but also enhances overall efficiency.
The packing plan generation process within WERX is underpinned by a sophisticated multi-layer approach. This method enables simultaneous consideration of multiple criteria—such as load stability, capacity constraints, and operational priorities—which can be dynamically activated or deactivated depending on current conditions. Such adaptability allows for real-time optimisation, proved effective in practice with major clients, including a leading U.S. foodservice provider. The outcome is smoother supply chain operations and reduced delivery stoppage times, enhancing overall competitiveness.
TGW’s integrated solutions go beyond full case handling to incorporate split case and mixed case picking within the same system framework. This inclusivity addresses the increasing demand for handling both fast-moving and slow-moving items efficiently through a unified platform. Moreover, the modular architecture of WERX facilitates smooth integration with existing warehouse infrastructure and external software environments, providing future-proof scalability in an evolving retail landscape.
FullPick, an innovation also developed by TGW, pushes this integration further by offering a fully automated mixed pallet picking system. It handles pallets and roll cages simultaneously and includes split case picking modules without requiring separate storage systems, simplifying store replenishment workflows and further reducing manual handling.
Underpinning these technological and software innovations is TGW’s commitment to partnering closely with customers, leveraging ongoing communication to adapt and enhance their solutions continually. This collaborative approach ensures that installations are not only cutting-edge upon deployment but remain efficient and maintainable throughout their service life.
WERX extends its capabilities with comprehensive warehouse management functionalities, such as material flow control, automated guided vehicle (AGV) management, and real-time task coordination. This software suite acts as a conductor for warehouse operations, maximising productivity by optimising paths, managing traffic, and ensuring smooth integration across all logistics components.
In summary, TGW Logistics’ approach to mixed case palletizing in grocery retail exemplifies how the convergence of advanced software, AI, robotics, and modular hardware design can deliver fully integrated, efficient, and adaptable solutions. As grocery retail continues to evolve with dynamic product assortments and heightened delivery expectations, intelligent software platforms like WERX will play an indispensable role in sustaining operational excellence, reducing manual interventions, and boosting supply chain responsiveness.
Source: Noah Wire Services
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