Kesko Helsinki Micro-Fulfillment Center (MFC)

Project Overview

Kesko, Finland's largest trading sector operator, pioneered the country's first grocery micro-fulfillment center (MFC) to address the explosive growth in online demand, particularly after COVID-19. The project aimed to solve critical capacity constraints, improve the profitability of e-commerce operations, and enhance the customer shopping experience by enabling faster, more reliable grocery delivery and pickup.

The facility is uniquely situated in the underground levels of the Itis shopping mall in Helsinki. The automated fulfillment center is located at the -5 level, while the associated K-Market store is on the -2 level, connected by an elevator. This urban, multi-level setup presented distinct spatial challenges. The solution needed to be highly dense, flexible to fit around structural pillars, and capable of handling a full range of grocery products, including chilled goods.

Kesko selected Dematic as the system integrator based on their proven experience with MFC projects, understanding of the grocery e-commerce business, and ability to deliver a turnkey solution.

Technical Solution

Chilled AutoStore Cubic Storage System

The heart of the MFC is a Dematic AutoStore system specifically configured for a chilled environment. Operating at -5°C, this cubic storage grid provides high-density storage for fast-moving grocery items. Its flexible layout was crucial for fitting into the irregular, pillar-filled underground space. The system's robots retrieve bins and deliver them to designated workstations.

Key Features

A defining feature is the chilled AutoStore, a specialized implementation for grocery. The triple-port workstation design is a unique efficiency driver, providing a continuous flow of work for operators. The entire system was designed with exceptional flexibility to conform to the challenging physical constraints of its underground mall location.

The MFC seamlessly serves a dual customer base: individual consumers and business clients, with the latter's orders potentially being ten times larger. It is fully integrated into Kesko's omnichannel ecosystem, supporting both click-and-collect and home delivery services from a dense urban location.

Results & Benefits

The automation doubled the site's daily order processing capacity, effectively eliminating the risk of running out of volume headroom. It enabled a market-leading 6-hour order-to-delivery or pickup lead time, meeting modern customer expectations for speed.

In-store customer experience improved significantly; the number of pickers in the store area was reduced from 30-50 to a maximum of 10, freeing up space and reducing congestion for shoppers. Product quality, especially for fresh fruits and vegetables, increased as automated handling minimized unnecessary contact. Employee satisfaction also improved due to more varied job roles and the ease of learning the AutoStore picking process.

Challenges & Solutions

The primary challenge was a post-pandemic capacity crisis. The AutoStore MFC provided the necessary high-density, automated throughput to overcome this bottleneck and scale operations efficiently.

The unconventional underground site with supporting pillars required a uniquely adaptable automation solution. AutoStore's modular and flexible grid design was selected because it could be configured to work within these fixed spatial constraints, which rigid systems could not.

Managing the complexity of integrating a new automation system with the existing large-scale WMS and safely ramping up operations was a major undertaking. The project team allocated substantial time for thorough testing and adopted a careful, incremental volume ramp-up strategy to ensure a stable and successful go-live.

System Integrator

Dematic served as the turnkey system integrator for this pioneering project. Their role spanned the entire lifecycle: initial consultation and data analysis, detailed 3D design to conceptualize the solution for the challenging site, proposal and costing, software design and WMS (Mantiow) integration, installation, testing, and provision of after-service care options. Kesko highlighted Dematic's professional sales team's deep understanding of their business needs as a key factor in their selection and the project's success.