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Johannes Meissner

Johannes Meissner

Technical CEO, WITRON Logistik + Informatik GmbH

Case study of Coles’ first Automated Distribution Centre – The largest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere

Coles' first Automated Distribution Centre (ADC) using global leading Witron technology is the largest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.

This is the first of two Witron facilities to open in Australia and comes after Coles Group’s biggest investment into technology in the company’s 109-year history. More than one billion dollars is being invested - with the second ADC opening in Kemps Creek, NSW in 2024.

The ADCs are designed to create safer and more sustainable outcomes for team members and suppliers, and better on-shelf availability for customers. The ADCs can process twice the number of cases and hold twice the number of pallets compared to Coles current DCs. The ADCs enable Coles to half the current total footprint, leading to a more productive and sustainable business model.

When operating at full capacity, the site can process up to 4 million cases per week, the equivalent of 32 million units sold in stores. Over the course of a year, this is around 1.6 billion sales units. The state-of-the-art facility in Redbank will service 219 Coles supermarkets in Queensland and Northern New South Wales. Over 90 percent of the cases processed in these automated distribution centres will be processed fully by automation or ergonomically. This improves safety for team members as it eliminates almost 18 million kilograms of manual handling in the supply chain each week once the ADC is running close to full capacity.

About Johannes:

Johannes Meissner has strengthened the WITRON management board as Technical CEO since January 2020. In this role, he oversees project management and technology developments comprising WITRON’s IT and PLC systems.

After his studies, as a graduate engineer specialised in electrical/communications engineering, Johannes joined WITRON in 1988. For more than 30 years, starting from the IT department, he has worked in a variety of leadership roles and been a true WITRON institution. Over two decades as a responsible Project Manager for WITRON, he managed several major European and North American projects, which were successfully put into operation under his direction. He was also significantly involved in the concept phase of the two new automated distribution centres for COLES in Australia. Johannes is highly regarded by customers and employees as an expert in intralogistics. His focuses besides the technological developments are customer support, project execution and delivery.