DATART is ready for the Christmas shopping season. At the end of November, the leading Czech electronics retailer, which is part of the HP TRONIC Group, started operating new automated packaging equipment in their modern logistics center in Jirny. The name of the machine is Opera and it is able to pack up to 900 packages per hour, thanks to which DATART can speed up its packaging capacity tremendously. Opera is a completely new technological solution and is also the first installation of its type in the Czech Republic, “We decided to invest in an automated packaging machine last year when we were faced with an enormous increase in online orders during the pandemic. This put immense pressure on logistics, especially on the packaging of orders. In November 2020 alone, we packed the same volume of goods as in all of 2019. For us, the packaging machine is a key investment for a smoother handling of the upcoming Christmas season, especially if shopping moves back online”, says Libor Křížka, DATART’s logistics director.
This type of equipment is the first of its kind to be imported into the Czech Republic. The Italian manufacturer Panotec used its thirty years of experience in the production of packaging equipment to design the Opera. “The machine has a patented method of cutting cardboard to the exact dimensions of different goods, which ensures low material consumption and minimal waste. In addition, it cuts small cardboard pieces from the waste, which can be used as filling material for fragile goods. The entire machine is also unique in terms of construction and design. It is closed, which is a great advantage in terms of safety and noise”, says Jiří Hlávka, sales representative of Packung, which represents the manufacturer in the Czech Republic.
Given the technical parameters of the machine, DATART can use this technology to package up to 96 percent of all its orders. “In the second phase, which awaits us in the spring, we will connect the machine with the existing warehouse technology. The plan is that the one-piece shipments, which we now pack by hand, will automatically enter the machine, which packs them without manual intervention. This will speed up the process in the warehouse significantly, allowing us to move the collection time for orders from 4pm to 6pm on any given day” adds Libor Křížka. 
The connection with the warehouse’s internal systems will be complemented by the automatic printing and gluing of the shipping label, as well as the automatic insertion of purchase documents into the packages. In addition, the cartons will be printed with the seller’s logo.
The Opera machine, which is currently installed in Paris and Milan, will complement Prague’s existing modern technologies. These already include an automated warehouse for small-volume goods, which allows warehouse operators to pick up goods five times faster than in a regular warehouse. Today, thanks to these technologies, the logistics center in Jirny can ship up to three million pieces of goods in one month.
