Micro Fulfillment Centres are compact, automated solutions that enable retailers to process online orders faster and more efficiently. By storing and picking inventory closer to customers, MFCs reduce delivery times, maximise space utilisation, and support scalable e-commerce growth.
Micro-fulfillment centers (MFCs) are small, frequently partially automated warehouses that can be located in the back of big-box stores or in metropolitan areas. It is often a scaled-down counterpart of large customer fulfillment centers (CFC), which are usually located in rural areas because of space and expense constraints.
The main justification for investing in micro-fuflilment is to increase storage capacity and expedite order delivery, which will save labour costs and expenses related to product storage and order fulfillment.
With the densest automated solution in the world, AutoStore enables any warehouse to make the best use of available space. Items can be picked automatically and very quickly thanks to AutoStore’s cube storage technology, StrongPoint’s software, and setup.
Do you need to add additional things to your warehouse so that they can be picked automatically with amazing efficiency? If so, you should visit an AutoStore micro-fulfillment center that works with StrongPoint. Automation can be applied to almost any kind of e-commerce fulfillment.
Why Traditional Fulfilment Falls Short?
Without a Micro Fulfillment Centre, retailers often face slower fulfilment times, rising costs, operational inefficiencies, and challenges meeting growing customer expectations. These obstacles can limit growth and reduce competitiveness in an increasingly demanding e-commerce market.
Manual picking processes and distant distribution centres can lead to longer order processing and delivery times.
Labour-intensive workflows and inefficient use of retail space increase fulfilment costs and reduce profitability.
As online order volumes grow, traditional store-based fulfilment struggles to keep pace without additional resources.
Delayed deliveries, stock inaccuracies, and unavailable collection options can lead to customer dissatisfaction and lost sales.
StrongPoint provides incredibly effective micro-fulfillment solutions specifically designed for grocery retailers and other sectors as an AutoStore partner. Warehouse and e-commerce may be carried out at very high levels of efficiency by integrating automated order picking with StrongPoint’s best-in-class manual order picking and last mile solutions.
The first automated frozen zone AutoStore solution in the world is being installed by StrongPoint. This streamlines the selection process and results in significant energy and space savings.
Our experience in groceries necessitates more intricate integrations with last-mile services and solutions.
The quickest fulfillment option per square foot is AutoStore’s automated picking.
The solution is perfect for small grocery stores and other merchants with limited space since it makes the best use of available space and has the highest storage density of any automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS).
Store → Pick → Fulfil
A smarter, faster approach to e-commerce order processing.
Products are stored in a compact, automated system that maximises space utilisation and keeps inventory organised and readily accessible.
When an online order is received, intelligent robotics and software automatically locate and retrieve the required items with speed and accuracy.
Orders are consolidated, packed, and prepared for delivery or Click & Collect, enabling faster fulfilment and an improved customer experience.
The World’s first AutoStore solution specifically designed for groceries, with three temperature zones, ambient, chilled, and now frozen, was designed and installed by StrongPoint. This is predicated on AutoStore’s recently developed automated frozen item storage and retrieval system.
Picking efficiency can be further increased by adding more items to the AutoStore grid.
Employees are no longer required to wear a lot of protective gear when they are in chilly rooms.
Energy use will drop by about 30–40% if frozen goods are added to the AutoStore grid instead of being picked by hand.
Being the only AutoStore partner that specialises in groceries, StrongPoint is in a unique position to maximise the potential for grocery stores and wholesalers thanks to our industry experience. Our areas of experience include how to set up the warehouse, manage items from various temperature zones, integrate with seamless last mile solutions, and combine manual picking for certain commodities. Throughout the entire procedure, StrongPoint can guarantee operating speed.
StrongPoint offers the widest range of last mile solutions on the market, managing both home delivery and all types of click & collect. Do you want to ship goods straight to the consumer from the warehouse? The most effective solutions available on the market can be smoothly integrated by us.
Very little energy is needed by the robots in the MFC. Actually, one vacuum cleaner uses more energy than ten robots. The secret is clever inventions and eliminating energy-wasting fixtures like lights and heaters. About 30% less energy is used for frozen foods thanks to the newly integrated frozen section.
Take advantage of our experience! We can assist in planning the layout of the storage facility as well as the best locations and methods for carrying out each step of the procedure. What truly sets us apart from the others is our attention to the entire process.
Using pre-made APIs, the technology has been integrated with hundreds of warehouse management systems worldwide.
Both StrongPoint and AutoStore are based in Norway and put up a lot of effort to help our customers become more efficient.
Beyond automation, StrongPoint’s automation solution can increase an e-grocery solution’s overall efficiency and be customised for e-commerce that isn’t related to food.
Manual Picking & Last-Mile Fulfilment
Not every product is suited to automation. Large, fast-moving, and bulky items are often more efficiently picked manually. StrongPoint combines industry-leading manual picking solutions with seamless last-mile fulfilment services, including Click & Collect, home delivery, and smart locker networks.
A profitable and extremely efficient micro-fulfillment requires a few components. Here is a closer look at each of the individual parts..
Aluminium Grid Infrastructure
The aluminium grid forms the foundation of the system, providing the tracks and storage structure that enable robots to navigate and access inventory efficiently. Fully scalable, the grid can be expanded in virtually any direction to maximise warehouse capacity.
Smart Storage Bins
Products are stored in durable, long-lasting bins designed for automated handling. Each bin is uniquely tracked for accurate inventory management and can be divided into compartments to store multiple products, with various sizes and configurations available to suit different storage needs.
Autonomous Robotic Workforce
Intelligent robots operate 24/7, retrieving products with speed and precision across the grid. Featuring automatic charging, continuous self-diagnostics, and built-in redundancy, the system ensures maximum uptime, reliability, and uninterrupted warehouse operations.
Optimised Manual Picking
Not all products are suited to automation. For bulky items, fresh produce, and other manually picked goods, StrongPoint’s Order Picking solution streamlines the process, improving efficiency and ensuring a seamless fulfilment operation.
Ergonomic Workstations
Products are delivered directly to operators through intelligent workstations designed for speed, safety, and ease of use. Advanced sensors, smart protection features, and proven automation ensure efficient, ergonomic, and reliable order handling.
Intelligent Control System
The controller acts as the brain of the Micro Fulfillment Centre, coordinating robots, inventory, and workflows in real time. By managing traffic, scheduling tasks, and optimising robot movements, it ensures maximum efficiency and system performance.
StrongPoint’s Micro-Fulfillment Centre (MFC) and Customer Fulfillment Centre (CFC) are made possible by Blue Yonder’s leading Warehouse Management System (WMS), whixh may function as a Warehouse Execution System (WES) or as a WMS.
With a long history dating back to RedPrairie and more than 30 years of development, the Blue Yonder Warehouse Management System has become a well-known and extensively used system that has been implemented in more than 40 countries and has more than 1,200 active locations. It’s a well-established WMS with a long history in automation and groceries. It offers several automation features right out of the box, which we have expanded for our clients’ advantage. As a Blue Yonder Partner, StrongPoint is able to market, deploy, host, and maintain the Blue Yonder WMS, which we offer to our customers as a software as a service (SaaS) model.
The quality of WMS systems depends on the customers and verticals to which they have been implemented. Almost every industry, including grocery and e-commerce, has successfully implemented the Blue Yonder WMS. This indicates that it has the breadth and depth of capabilities to handle practically any operational procedure in the most effective manner, enabling you to minimise labour costs and obtain a return on investment.
Our customers benefit from a system that has been built from the ground up to be user adjustable, thanks to our experience in the 3PL sector, where configurability and ease of use are crucial WMS system pillars. The majority of use cases can be handled by us and our customer’s without resorting to code, which speeds up deployments and lowers the cost of ownership.
Although many WMS systems have trouble with automation, the Blue Yonder WMS has a long history of automation and contains an Automation module that has all the features and capabilities you would anticipate from a warehouse execution system.
The system’s scalability and resilience have been demonstrated by more than 1200 clients, ranging from the smallest to the biggest Tier 1s.
You may now be curious about how this solution relates to your current IT infrastructure and solutions. The systems must communicate with one another, after all. Thankfully, we’ve made it as simple as we can.
You can link the solution software with your current ERP, e-commerce, or comparable system. StrongPoint’s ready-made APIs are used to do that. For the most seamless functioning possible, we will help you further with anything you require.
StrongPoint provides round-the-clock customer support, helping your IT team avoid troubleshooting issues and ensuring smooth, uninterrupted locker operations.
Naturally, you want to monitor the solution after it has been implemented. The back office is accessible via a web interface, and StrongPoint’s software is hosted on a cloud-based platform. You may view the efficiency, the quantity of orders processed, and other details here.
Interested in our solutions? We’d be happy to connect! Reach out using the form below and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
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