Whisky.de from the inside
At the end of May 2002, we moved into our new storage and dispatch hall. The old cellar, which had only been extended in 1997, had become too small over the years. The new building was custom-built in the Seeshaupt industrial estate. Find out on this page what the hall looked like and how the processes worked back then.
Everything is geared towards optimised shipping
Let us start by describing the processes from 2003. We outsourced the warehouse and dispatch back in 2013.
You can reach our 200 m2 office via two 3 Mbit/s internet connections and 10 telephone lines. There are 2 servers and 14 PCs available here. They are used for processing your orders, whisky purchasing and financial accounting as well as catalogue and Internet development.
The bottle storage area has also increased significantly compared to the old cellar. More than 1,000 different whiskies await your order on 320 metres of shelves (on 6 levels). 96% of all products were always available in the old cellar. There are even more in the new warehouse.
Your selected goods are carefully packed on an automated packing line. For peak times, 6 packing stations and 3 picking stations with PCs are available.
Our additional 7 metre high pallet warehouse offers space for 100 Euro pallets. Enough space to have enough whisky in stock for you even at peak times.
Have you sent us an order?
Many thanks for that! Accompany your order on an illustrated journey through Whisky.de. You ordered before 9:00 am? Then we need to hurry - your order will be processed today. Here you will find a YouTube video with two parts from the inside of Whisky.de.
Let's talk about our technology first!
The majority of our orders come in via our online shop system. The rest comes in by phone and fax. A few customers send us written orders using our order form or freely formulated postcards and letters.
The telephone and data lines end in the two cabinets shown. The following are housed here: telephone system (top right), computer connections (below) and two computer servers (in the left-hand cabinet). The servers are used for order processing, logistics, e-mail traffic and catalogue and Internet development.
Order processing
Your orders and enquiries are processed by four service employees. Perhaps you know one or two of them from the telephone? They are responsible for order processing and also answer all enquiries and complaints that we receive via our info account, in writing or by telephone.
Purchasing of goods
For many years, Mrs Lüning was exclusively responsible for purchasing goods. Today, four operational buyers work in our purchasing department.
We receive some of the whisky deliveries from our suppliers several times a week by lorry.
Our storage system
The whisky is packed in cartons on pallets, which are first parked in our warehouse before the whisky is placed in cartons or individually on the picking shelves.
Only the purchase of whole pallets gives us the security to compensate for supply bottlenecks from wholesalers and distilleries and to guarantee you a consistent supply.
Not all whiskies sell equally well. A Lagavulin 16 year old sells a thousand times better than a Glen Grant 1957. We have set up spaces in modern flow racks for the frequently requested goods. The shelves are stocked at the back and individual bottles can be picked from the front. In logistics terms, this is known as live storage or first-in, first-out.
Processing time
Our type of storage means short processing times for you. For our employees, it means short picking routes. In the run-up to Christmas, when several tonnes of goods are picked every day, this storage system is a real relief.
Order picking
The packing lists created in the office by the service staff are now processed by the warehouse staff. Each individual packing list is picked in a padded plastic box and passed on to the packing stations.
The packing
Since the move to the new hall, every employee has their own workstation with a PC and printer for the parcel labels. Whether left-handed or right-handed, tall or short, everyone can set up their workstation in the best possible way. Provision has also been made for peak times. Two additional workstations allow 6 people to pack your orders at the same time.
Initial stress tests with the system have shown that a maximum of 1,500 parcels can be packed in one shift. But we are not quite there yet. Before Christmas 2006, we sent 1,000 customer parcels on their way for the first time on a busy Monday. All the packed parcels run on a powered roller conveyor, which transports the sometimes heavy parcels fully automatically to the strapping machine and into the postal container.
Parcel collection
For you as a customer, this means that your goods are handled as gently as possible. No lifting of parcels, no stacks of parcels that could tip over. Once a parcel is packed, it leaves Whisky.de automatically.
DHL collects the packed containers at around 5.00 pm on all working days.
You will receive your parcel number by e-mail when it is handed over to DHL and can look forward to the arrival of your parcel within the next two days.
Your order is complete
The final step in finalising your order is the booking of your incoming payment in our financial accounting department.
This is how we work!
We wanted to show you the path your order takes from receipt to the finished parcel.
Do you have any questions? Please write to us.
Seeshaupt 2003
Updated in May 2024
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