Frigologo has positioned itself as an experienced and knowledgeable partner for international distribution in Austria. "We see ourselves as an east-west hub for the distribution of goods from the food sector as well as for the inventory management this requires. Our partners and customers are European manufacturers, sales organizations as well as food retailers and wholesalers in Austria", explains managing director Friedrich Zechmann.

Frigologo has subsidiaries in many Eastern-European countries to offer customers the best possible service locally. In Western Europe, the fresh logistics specialist is working in cooperation with the logistics company Dachser making up an important part of the latter's pan-European network. This enables Frigologo to transport goods with a very short lifespan to any European country.
At the company's sites in Seekirchen and Vienna, more than 200 employees are working on 20,000 sqm generating a turnover of more than 50 million euro. Frigologo also has trans-shipment centres in Linz, Innsbruck, Graz and Klagenfurt. Frigologo has its own fleet of 115 trucks. It offers custom-tailored transport solutions, storage, picking, building of displays, pre and co-packing as well as additional value-added services, order processing and direct invoicing.

Since the year 2000, Frigologo has been utilizing the industry-specific ERP solution by CSB-System to support its logistics processes.

Frigologo offers producers as well as wholesalers and retailers daily deliveries which arrive on schedule and at the specified location, e.g. fresh milk at a fixed delivery time.
Deliveries from Seekirchen are mostly made over night. To optimize the routes, Frigologo utilizes route plans generated by the CSB-System. This ensures a quick flow of goods and just-in-time distribution. Transportation times from producer to consignee are in part under 16 hours.

A highlight of the installed IT solution is mobile picking which was implemented at both Frigologo sites. 40 MDC devices are being used in Seekirchen and 10 in Vienna. Just 35 pickers process ca. 850 orders every day with up to 1,000 line items per order. Once an order has been placed with Frigologo, employees check via inventory reconciliation whether sufficient stocks exists or whether products have to be re-ordered form the manufacturers. When manufacturers deliver their products, a label with EAN128 barcode is applied at goods receiving and the SSCC identified. At the same time, the pallets are booked into buffer storage. The forklift drivers transport the pallets to high-bay storage and determine the respective bin location using the MDC device. Once the SSCC number has been read and the bin location number has been scanned, the MDC device is put into its cradle and the captured data is transferred to the CSB-System. The data is recorded in the CSB-System Bin Location Management and the SSCC data is used for updating. The system constantly checks automatically whether pallets have to be moved to the picking area.

As a result, process organization is ideal. Incoming orders are automatically fed into the CSB-System and displayed to picking management. Once the orders to be processed have been selected, they are sent to MDC picking. The quantity is then immediately deducted from the available stocks and booked as a reserved quantity. In this way, understocks can be spotted right away and stock transfer instructions can be issued. Actual booking out from the inventory happens after picking - Frigologo does it by customer or by items. "A particularity in our company as regards item picking is the so-called cross docking, where the goods destined for the distribution centre for food retailers are delivered pre-picked for each shop and include all detailed information. This eliminates the need for separate checks by the food retailers, saving considerable time and costs", explains Rolf Stobbe.

Frigologo benefits in particular from the large throughput quantity (picking performance) with a minimum of staff that the CSB-System offers. In addition, the system guarantees comprehensive safety and flexibility in the picking process.
For producers and sales organizations the clear advantages lie e.g in an easier access for foreign customers to the relatively small but logistically challenging market in Austria. National customers of storage services no longer require their own logistics. EDI is available wherever required. Austrian retailers benefit from a reduced number of logistics partners. The efficient logistics solutions by Frigologo make it possible that today there is often only just one truck waiting at the loading bay where dozens used to be queuing. By avoiding mistakes in order picking, all picking usually done by the retailers can now be carried out by Frigologo. This furthers the partnership even more.