EROSKI inaugurates its new automated logistics platform developed by ULMA and unique in Europe

EROSKI has officially inaugurated its new logistics facilities in Elorrio, Vizcaya, containing the first logistics platform in Europe to incorporate state-of-the-art technology, developed locally in cooperation with ULMA Handling Systems.

The modernised facilities - a logistics platform now managed as a plant with lean industrial processes - have enabled the automation of 70% of the weight handled, with around 2,000 tons of traffic passing through the platform each day. In terms of volume, the new logistics plant will automatically handle 50% of the 140,000 picking boxes handled by EROSKI daily (around 4,000 an hour) at the facilities developed by ULMA.

The cooperative has invested more than €40m in the new facilities, which employ over 400 people and serve 26 hypermarkets and 325 supermarkets.

EROSKI’s Chairman Agustín Markaide highlighted the pioneering aspect of the new facilities, a sector benchmark in Europe, and underlined "the importance of the logistics optimisation achieved with this new platform, which represents an essential step towards improving the internal efficiency of the cooperative’s processes. It means we can provide shops with the service they need, resulting in more advantages for customers, with a wider choice of items and better prices, thanks to improved speed and flexibility and lower operating costs.”