Alibaba GroupFreshippo, Alibaba Group’s new retail venture, has inaugurated a supply chain center in Shanghai to support cold chain logistics distribution in the capital and at major locations across eastern China.
Serving multiple cities including Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Hefei, the facility which is located in the Pudong New Area of Shanghai took three years to complete, and is described as a “comprehensive supply centre that integrates the processing of agricultural products, research and development into ready-to-eat food, the cold storage of semi-finished food, a centralized kitchen, and cold chain logistics distribution”.
As the fresh supply hub for Freshippo in Shanghai, the facility will support over a hundred company branded Supermarkets, Freshippo X Clubs and other related store formats. It is the largest logistics hub to be completed by the company to date, joining a network of seven supply chain centers in northwest, southwest, central and east China. The retail operator has committed to building a large-scale fresh multi-temperature layer logistics system across the country.
Technologies deployed at the centre include automated guided vehicles (AGV), robotic arms and cross-belt sorters. AGVs use QR code and inertial navigation technologies, which allow them to be deployed on the cloud server during the product sorting process. Based on intelligent algorithms, the vehicles can follow the optimal path and work together to transport unpacked goods. Through this process, the centre can sort more than 2.8 million items per day.
The opening of the center upgrades Freshippo’s retail supply chain by leveraging data to promote the full automation of warehouse operations and management.
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Centre director, Hao Jingbin, says: “The opening of the center upgrades Freshippo’s retail supply chain by leveraging data to promote the full automation of warehouse operations and management. At the same time, the facility will use Freshippo’s special central kitchens to greatly improve the efficiency of our supply chain, and will reduce operating costs and fully process various agricultural products to add business value.
“This is our first wholly automated park and includes an automated cold chain fresh processing center and a series of logistics automation facilities systems. It also leverages technologies such as 5G, the Internet of Things and blockchain to achieve full automation and digitization of the entire supply chain, which helps to improve supply chain efficiency and reduce operational costs.”
Tang Lei, director of Freshippo’s kitchen in Shanghai, adds: “Another major feature of the new supply chain centre is our centralised kitchen as fresh ingredients are processed into prepared dishes, complementing the full supply chain process for Freshippo’s own-label dishes from research and development to production and transportation.
“From raw materials to the production of fresh food, and delivery to stores, every step along the supply chain can be traced. This ensures high standards of food safety, in addition to reducing the time it takes for dishes prepared in the kitchen to reach customers.”
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