Case Study: Apetito achieves high-capacity, energy-efficient automated -24°C logistics with Swisslog Holding

Apetito - Customer Case Study

Apetito, a family-owned market leader in frozen ready-made meals serving about 1.3 million people daily, faced a 35‑year‑old deep‑freeze warehouse whose capacity was exhausted at peak times. To meet growing demand and future-proof its cold‑chain logistics, Apetito engaged Swisslog Holding to design and deliver a new intralogistics solution including an automated carton warehouse, warehouse management and material flow control.

Swisslog Holding engineered and commissioned the new logistics and distribution center in 2013: a -24°C automated carton warehouse (77,500 storage locations, 18 aisles, 18 stacker cranes delivering ~170 in/out feeds per hour) linked to a 2,192 m² picking/shipping area with 1.5 km of conveyors (530 drives) and eight packing stations (3,050 boxes/hour). Integrated WMS with SAP, unique “logical” box tracking (no barcodes/RFID), and energy‑saving features (regenerative braking, heat recovery) enabled up to 730 load carriers/day (~1,000 deliveries/day), faster, virtually error‑free order processing and scalable capacity to support Apetito’s growth.

Apetito

Ulrich Fenger

Head of logistics for Apetito AG Rheine