Increasing Efficiency in Spain's Largest Refrigerated DC
Posted by Travis Baker on Fri, Jul 22, 2011 @ 09:01 AM
Exceptional efficiency and capacity increase for southern Europe’s biggest refrigerated logistics center.
Donwload the Case Study
As part of a drive to increase capacity, Frigorificos de Navarra (Frinavarra), one of Spain’s leading providers of refrigerated warehouse logistics, looked to partially automate its 524,934 ft2 of warehouse. SSI Schaefer was awarded the contract for this challenging intralogistics project. Frinavarra chose SSSI Schaefer not only for its innovative technology, but also for its ability to deliver a complete solution. The 30% increase in capacity to 915,354 ft3 made Frinavarra the biggest logistics center in southern Europe for temperature-controlled storage.
This extraordinary project included several successful premieres. It was the debut of the fully automated Schaefer Orbiter System (SOS) shuttle solution combined with the Schaefer Compact Crane (SCC), a storage and retrieval system. Frinavarra is operating the first SOS in Spain.
Fast and reliable
Frinavarra specializes in the storage of fruit and vegetables, which make up around 85% of their inventory. In response to the high seasonal volumes of these goods, the company needed a solution that could handle high throughput and temperature-controlled processes reliably, flexibly, dynamically and – most importantly – automatically. A channel storage system with its efficient use of space was the perfect answer.
SSI Schaefer designed a fully-automated channel storage system with over 11,000 double storage locations (two pallets, one on top of the other), offering a total capacity of 22,000 pallets. These are divided between 500 channels, each containing 22 pallet locations, on five levels, installed in a refrigerated facility 282 ft long, 180 ft wide and 50 ft high and at a controlled temperature of -82.4 ºF. The channels are 22 units deep, facilitating the transfer of stock from truck to warehouse, as the vehicles usually transport this number of pallets containing the same product. SSI Schaefer used its channel storage rack system to build the custom racking needed for this project. It has the advantages of being compact and constructed of galvanized steel.
Transfer to storage and picking follow the FILO principle. The warehouse is stocked using the highly efficient combination of the SOS shuttle vehicle and the SCC automatic storage and retrieval system from SSI Schaefer, which also transfers the SOS to the individual channels. Frinavarra’s daily goods throughput, averaging 45 pallets per hour or 720 pallets a day (on a two-shift pattern of 16 hours), is handled by just one SOS and SCS, which demonstrates the flexibility of the system. At maximum capacity the system can move 75 pallets an hour. Another positive impact on efficiency and reliability was delivered by the state-of-the-art functional and energy technology of the SOS, which uses patented eco-friendly power caps instead of batteries.
Well connected
The connection between the new chamber and the relatively distant loading and unloading stations is provided by the automated conveyor system from SSI Schaefer. The system allows goods to be picked within the cold chain, transporting them directly to the refrigerated chamber. This maintains the high efficiency achieved by the channel storage system.
Everything under control
SSI Schaefer used the warehouse management system WAMAS® to handle the logistics processes in the new refrigerated facility. The logistics software covers all processes in manual, part-automated and fully automated warehouses. The capabilities of WAMAS® – from the provision of key inventory data through a track and trace system to RFID integration – played an essential role in increasing efficiency in this project.
The WAMAS system supplied to Frinavarra has a special function that provides additional process optimization for goods provision and truck loading. All the prepared pallets for one truckload are positioned in separate channels inside the refrigerated warehouse at the position nearest to the loading point. This has the effect of reducing the pallet transfer time from the refrigerated area to the truck to a matter of minutes, which in turn reduces loading times. The company also controls automatic reorganization of the new warehouse with its own software feature, which is operated through WAMAS. This makes it possible to maintain the storage processes in spite of substantial seasonal fluctuations in capacity utilization, and any mixed storage necessitated by capacity reasons is reorganized into non-mixed channel storage.
Perfect interplay
In what could well be a record for a venture of this complexity, it took just 11 months to implement the project, including the time to build the new refrigerated storage facility.
The project owes its success not only to the experience and expertise of the supplier, but also to the close collaboration between Frinavarra and SSI Schaefer. “Our contacts at SSI Schaefer were very flexible and always ready to meet our requirements, some of which only became apparent after discussion. SSI Schaefer also showed its expertise and professionalism in the work carried out prior to the signing of the contract and the very detailed requirements analysis,” says Frinavarra’s director Jorge Fernández-Miranda.
Schaefer Systems International, Inc., the North American subsidiary of the SSI SCHAEFER group of companies, established headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1989.
SCHAEFER’s automation integrates to any existing system earning us an international reputation as the global leader in the material-handling industry for returnable packaging, static racking, and highly complex, automated distribution systems. With over 70 years of experience and a 100% commitment to quality behind every SSI Schafer system, we focus on providing our clients with unconventional picking and storage solutions delivering best value