An RMT Robotics installation in a dairy plant. The company will install a system in Kroger's Denver facililty.

The Kroger Co. is installing an automated crate storage and picking system in a new dairy facility in Denver. The initial system will be operational in the second quarter of 2014, according to RMT Robotics, Grimsby, Ontario, the supplier of the system. Kroger broke ground on the plant in December 2012.

The system is designed to store up to 36,000 crates and process in excess of 30,000 crates per day. Crates are stacked, accumulated and conveyed to four MultiPick gantry robots. The robots then move the inventory to storage positions on the floor until order fulfillment. Order pallets are picked by the robots, palletized and banded before being loaded onto a route truck.

"The system will reduce our operational costs, while ensuring customer orders are picked and shipped quickly and accurately," said Larry Noe, Manufacturing Engineering Manager, Kroger Mountain View Foods.

"This solution will be the first application of its kind in North America after having many years of success in the European market," said Derek Rickard, Distribution Systems Manager, RMT Robotics Ltd.

Kroger ranks No. 12 on the Dairy 100, Dairy Foods ranking of the largest dairy processors in the United States and Canada. Kroger also operates dairy processing plants in Arizona, California, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginia.