Imbach Logistik - Luzern Logistics Center Automation

Project Overview

Imbach Logistik, a Swiss traditional company with over 120 years of market presence, sought to address the accelerated pressure from e-commerce, digitalization, and rising customer expectations while preparing for future generations. Facing the challenge of growing on limited land in a well-connected location, the company decided to make a massive investment in automation by constructing the Luzern Logistics Center.

The new facility is designed to lay the foundation for highly efficient and sustainable logistics services, covering end-to-end operations from vehicle reception, goods receipt, warehousing, and picking to shipping. A core objective was to maximize space utilization through vertical automation, as available building land was scarce. The modular-designed facility needed to accommodate both full-pallet and small-part storage, while delivering high-speed order fulfillment to meet modern logistics demands.

With a long-standing partnership with the Galliker Group and SSI Schaefer, Imbach Logistik leveraged trusted expertise to develop a comprehensive intralogistics solution that balances scalability, efficiency, and sustainability—positioning the company for long-term success in the evolving logistics landscape.

Technical Solution

Automated High-Bay Pallet Storage System

The facility features a fully automated high-bay warehouse with four aisles and eight storage levels, providing over 6,000 pallet positions. Inbound pallets received on the ground floor are fully automatedly stored in the AS/RS (Automated Storage and Retrieval System) without human intervention. The system handles full-pallet movements efficiently, leveraging vertical space to maximize storage capacity on the limited land footprint. This module forms the backbone of the facility’s bulk storage capability, supporting high-volume palletized goods.

Key Features

The modular-design automation system offers exceptional flexibility, with 130,000 container slots and 6,000+ pallet positions that can adapt to changing inventory volumes and order profiles. This scalability ensures the facility can grow with Imbach Logistik’s business needs without major infrastructure modifications.

The 116 pallets per hour average picking rate delivers industry-leading throughput, addressing the accelerated speed demands from e-commerce and digitalization. This high-speed performance enables faster order fulfillment and improved customer satisfaction.

The combination of 8-level AS/RS for pallets and 30-level shuttle storage for containers maximizes vertical space utilization, a critical feature given the limited available land in Luzern. This vertical optimization allows the facility to achieve significant storage capacity without expanding its footprint.

The integrated fleet of 14 flexi-lifters and 21 flexi-shuttles provides robust vertical and horizontal container transport, supporting the daily throughput of 34,000 containers. These automated vehicles operate in harmony to ensure fast, reliable container movement throughout the small parts warehouse.

Spiral conveyors enable efficient inter-floor transport, maintaining the facility’s continuous material flow while saving space compared to traditional elevators or conveyors. This design choice reinforces the facility’s space-saving ethos.

Dual picking workflows (container-to-pallet and pallet-to-pallet) cater to diverse order requirements, from small parcel shipments to large truck deliveries. This versatility allows Imbach Logistik to serve a wide range of customer needs from a single facility.

Results & Benefits

The facility achieves a daily throughput of 34,000 containers (inbound and outbound), demonstrating the automation system’s ability to handle high-volume operations efficiently. This throughput supports Imbach Logistik’s ability to meet the growing demand for fast, reliable logistics services.

By leveraging vertical storage automation, Imbach Logistik successfully addressed the challenge of limited land, enabling business growth in a well-connected location without expanding the facility’s footprint. This space optimization translates to cost savings and environmental benefits by minimizing land use.

The 116 pallets per hour picking rate delivers tangible operational efficiency, reducing order cycle times and enabling faster delivery to customers. This performance positions Imbach Logistik as a competitive provider in the fast-paced logistics market.

The end-to-end automated solution covers all core logistics processes—from goods receipt to shipping—eliminating manual handling bottlenecks and reducing human error. This integration ensures consistent service quality and operational reliability.

The modular and scalable design establishes a sustainable foundation for future growth, allowing Imbach Logistik to adapt to changing market conditions and customer needs. The investment in automation ensures the company remains viable for future generations, as intended.

Challenges & Solutions

Imbach Logistik’s primary challenge was growing its logistics operations on limited available land in the well-connected but space-constrained Luzern location. The solution was to implement a vertically optimized automation system, combining an 8-level AS/RS for pallets and a 30-level shuttle system for containers. This vertical storage approach maximized storage capacity without requiring additional land, enabling the company to grow within its existing footprint.

The second major challenge was meeting the accelerated speed demands driven by e-commerce, digitalization, and rising customer expectations. To address this, SSI Schaefer deployed a high-speed automation ecosystem—including flexi-lifters, flexi-shuttles, and spiral conveyors—that collectively delivers 116 pallets per hour picking rate and 34,000 daily container movements. This high-throughput design ensures the facility can keep pace with modern logistics speed requirements.

A third challenge was accommodating the diverse logistics needs of different customers, including full-pallet shipments, small-part orders, and varying delivery methods (postal vs. truck). The solution was a modular design with dual storage systems (pallet AS/RS + container shuttle system) and flexible picking workflows (container-to-pallet + pallet-to-pallet). This versatility allows the facility to handle multiple order types efficiently from a single integrated system.

System Integrator

SSI Schaefer served as the system integrator for the Luzern Logistics Center, leveraging its long-standing partnership with Imbach Logistik and the Galliker Group. As the provider of the complete intralogistics solution, SSI Schaefer was responsible for designing the modular automation system, supplying key equipment (AS/RS, flexi-lifters, shuttles, conveyors), and implementing the integrated WMS/WCS software suite.

SSI Schaefer’s expertise in high-density storage and high-throughput automation was critical to addressing the project’s core challenges—space constraints and speed demands. The company’s modular design approach ensured the system could adapt to Imbach Logistik’s evolving needs, while its experience with end-to-end logistics integration guaranteed seamless coordination between all process modules.

The successful delivery of the project reflects the strength of the long-term partnership between Imbach Logistik and SSI Schaefer, built on trust and effective collaboration. SSI Schaefer’s solution not only meets the immediate operational requirements but also positions Imbach Logistik for sustainable growth, aligning with the company’s vision of serving future generations.