Food wholesaler and retailer Alex Lee has partnered with automation specialist Dematic to deploy a mixed-case solution for its subsidiary Merchants Distributors Inc. (MDI).
Atlanta-based Dematic said on Wednesday that the implementation will increase the yield of the planned renovation and expansion of MDI’s main operations center in Hickory, NC. a net gain of 111 jobs.
MDI’s strong growth created the need for more space. The supermarket distributor added 33% to more stores as customers and has seen its sales increase by 45% over the past five years, according to Dematic.
“We are excited to continue to grow in Hickory, where we were founded almost 90 years ago,” said MDI President and CEO Brian George in a statement. “The quality of life and commercial support from North Carolina and our local community makes the Hickory area an ideal place to continue to expand our business.”
Dematic’s flexible mixed box filling system being adopted by MDI includes a Dematic high-bay AS / RS loading unit for pallets, the Dematic Multishuttle for storage and sequencing of Dematic RapidPall boxes and palletizers to build box pallets mixed automatically. A “merchandise for person” part separation module will also be integrated to handle smaller quantities of orders, added Dematic, whose iQ software will manage and operate the automated system.
When the installation is complete, Dematic’s solution will allow MDI to palletize 165,000 cases per day – up from the current 125,000 cases – and will provide the capacity for 200,000 cases per day to accommodate future growth, Dematic reported. The company said the pallets will also be more densely packed and ready to be stored in stores, resulting in a more efficient working environment.
Dematic’s system (see rendering above) will allow MDI to palletize 165,000 boxes per day – up from the current 125,000 boxes, and provide capacity for future volume growth.
“Our partnership with MDI hits the sweet spot for us,” commented Michael Larsson, executive vice president at Dematic Americas. “The solution will generate growth, improve the service and train employees. These are exactly the goals that we have when making a proposal and we will be excited to meet them for MDI. “
Alex Lee, based in Hickory, is the parent company of MDI and also of the food distributor Souto Foods and the supermarket chain Lowes Foods. MDI supplies more than 600 supermarkets in 12 states, while Atlanta-based Souto supplies Latin products to retailers in five states. Lowes Foods, headquartered in Winston-Salem, NC, operates approximately 85 stores in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia under the Lowes and Just $ ave Foods banners.
Alex Lee has expanded its business and extended its geographic reach in the past two years. In September 2019, the company announced the acquisition of food wholesaler and retailer W. Lee Flowers & Co., which supplies stores in the Carolinas and Georgia. That same month, San Francisco Bay Area online grocery store owner Farmstead and Alex Lee announced a partnership to open “microhubs” in the Carolinas to fulfill online grocery orders, with Alex Lee serving as the primary supplier for e-commerce facilities. -commerce. And in September 2020, Alex Lee agreed to buy 20 Bi-Lo stores – to be converted to KJ’s Market IGA and Lowes Foods flagships – in South Carolina and Georgia from Southeastern Grocers.