Pillar · Supply Today itself
Mechanisation & implementation
This is the only pillar where the expertise is entirely our own — 30+ years of experience with mechanisation and DC optimisation. We cover the full life cycle: from study and design, through implementation including (re)building and WMS/WCS (warehouse and machine control), to post-implementation, when a system is not yet working optimally. Supplier-independent, end to end, with one point of contact — so that your investment works from day one.
Discuss your mechanisation challenge
All pillars
Where it goes wrong, and why we take the lead. Design, construction, integrator, WMS and organisation each pursue their own optimum; at the handovers the risk is left lying. We carry the plan as a whole, from business case to ramp-up.
Use cases
Use cases in practice
01
Design of mechanisation and automation
“We want to mechanise, but we don’t know which solution fits our volume and process, what it costs and what it delivers — and we don’t want to depend on one integrator selling its own hardware.”
Read how we solve this →
Design of mechanisation and automation
“We want to mechanise, but we don’t know which solution fits our volume and process, what it costs and what it delivers — and we don’t want to depend on one integrator selling its own hardware.”
For whom
Manufacturing and logistics companies facing a major mechanisation or automation investment — fresh/food, retail distribution, e-fulfilment, manufacturing industry.
Solution
We know the mechanisation applications for every logistics activity — goods-to-person, AMRs, conveyors, AS/RS, shuttles, sorters, robotics — including suppliers, prices and limitations. We design the layout, build a business case per sub-process, and select the suppliers.
Outcome
A substantiated design with a business case per sub-process — investment, FTE reduction, payback period and NPV — before a single euro of hardware is ordered. Independent: the best solution, not the one a supplier happens to sell.
In a feasibility study at a fresh food processor, each of five sub-processes got its own business case: investments of €1.4–20 million and payback periods of 1.5–3 years. All sub-processes turned out to pay back within 3 years, better than the expected 4. At a packaging wholesaler, we first weighed three directions: expansion, outsourcing or a new build.
02
Implementation including (re)building
“The mechanisation has been chosen, but everything also has to be realised physically — tenders, an integrator and often a major conversion or new build — while the operation simply has to keep running.”
Read how we solve this →
Implementation including (re)building
“The mechanisation has been chosen, but everything also has to be realised physically — tenders, an integrator and often a major conversion or new build — while the operation simply has to keep running.”
For whom
Companies implementing a mechanised system where the building must be adapted or newly built — raising the roof, floor loading, sprinklers, electrics, mezzanines.
Solution
We detail the blueprint, draw up tenders, select and contract parties, specify the concepts and guide everything through to commissioning. Our own architect/construction supervisor coordinates the (re)building, including the installations tied to the mechanisation. Together we draw up a transition plan so the operation keeps running, plus financing advice and cash-in/cash-out monitoring.
Outcome
One integrated project from tender to working installation, with construction, mechanisation and operation aligned — no contractor, integrator and consultant working past each other.
At a textile retailer, the choice of shuttle required a higher DC roof, new sprinkler and electrical provisions and a floor designed for the shuttle load — coordinated by our own construction supervisor while the operation kept running. At a packaging wholesaler, it became greenfield: 20 metres high, AGVs for inbound and outbound, three platform lifts. At a fruit importer, we did both the design and the implementation of the complete mechanisation — read the case.
03
WMS selection & implementation
“Our mechanisation calls for a more advanced WMS, but we don’t know which package fits, how it controls the mechanised parts and how we avoid expensive customisation — while during the transition it has to handle both the old and the new situation.”
04
End to end: from design to a working implementation
“We need many parties — design, construction, integrator, WMS, change management — but nobody takes charge of the whole, so risks and sub-optimisations fall through the cracks.”
05
Post-implementation: getting a faltering system back on track
“We have invested millions in mechanisation or automation, but the promised speed, costs and results fail to materialise. Instead of calm, there is unrest on the floor; processes stall, debts have mounted and liquidity — sometimes continuity — comes under pressure.”
Read how we solve this →
Post-implementation: getting a faltering system back on track
“We have invested millions in mechanisation or automation, but the promised speed, costs and results fail to materialise. Instead of calm, there is unrest on the floor; processes stall, debts have mounted and liquidity — sometimes continuity — comes under pressure.”
For whom
Companies with start-up problems after a major investment (new factory or line, site consolidation, acquisition) or an automation project that has hit obstacles — automated internal transport, robotics, planning tools. Sectors: food/fresh, manufacturing industry, logistics/DC, process industry.
Solution
We are brought in when mechanisation does not deliver what was promised. No thick report, but action on the floor along four axes: capacity, process, technology & IT, and culture & leadership. We tackle the real causes — technology that does not fit the processes, employees who do not trust the way of working, departments steering on their own optimum.
Outcome
Within about three months, control and stabilisation on the floor — more calm, clarity and confidence — and within six months a lasting improvement that is embedded in your procedures, with control over processes, costs, capacity and delivery reliability.
At a fresh food processor, a new build worth hundreds of millions did not deliver what was promised. By restoring processes, rhythm and collaboration, the preparation department was above standard within nineteen weeks. No temporary firefighting, but an improvement culture with ownership.
One point of contact: aren’t you just another integrator? No — we are supplier-independent and take the lead on your behalf; in fact we assess and improve integrators’ proposals. Have you already invested and it isn’t working? Then that is exactly our post-implementation proposition: action on the floor, not another study. Supply Today orchestrates design, construction, WMS and mechanisation together, with more than 20 years of WMS and WCS implementations and robotics in the team. Not the technology but the working outcome is what counts.
We start with your challenge, not with a pillar — usually two or three come together
Operational optimisation & algorithms
Image recognition & process monitoring
Supply chain transparency & data at source
We orchestrate your operational transformation. From technology to a working operation — for over 30 years.
© 2026 Supply Today · Privacy policy
Contact