
The intelligent warehouse of Bem Brasil with the automatic Pallet Shuttle system
A new intelligent warehouse, with the capacity for more than 33,000 pallets and fully automated operations
Founded in 2006 in the city of Araxá, Bem Brasil is a company that produces more than 100,000 tonnes of pre-fried frozen chips a year. Currently, it has become the national leader in the sector and one of the most popular brands in Brazil, and a household staple.
In 2017, Bem Brasil opened a new plant in the town of Perdizes (just 50 km from Araxá), located strategically to expedite the distribution of its products throughout the entire country.
The frozen chips company wanted to boost its growth rate from the last few years and to expand into international markets. Lately, the group’s business strategy was based on vigorously updating product sales and, recently, it has also modernised its packaging.
Bem Brasil required an intelligent warehouse to house both raw materials used in production processes and the finished products ready to be shipped out. The installation had to provide the maximum potential storage capacity to accommodate all these SKUs, as well as to streamline inflowing and outflowing goods.
In addition, to ensure optimal preservation of the goods, the frozen storage installation needs to run at a constant -30 ºC.
The business approached Mecalux to get it to collaborate in the design, building and roll out of this new frozen goods warehouse.
The result is a more than 25 m tall automated clad-rack warehouse with the automatic Pallet Shuttle system that provides a storage capacity of above 33,000 pallets.
Warehouse areas:
João Emílio Rocheto - Chairman & President at Bem Brasil
“The automatic Pallet Shuttle system is a solution that is compact, practical, fast and flexible. Its robotised operations have helped us cut costs in the power we use, improve work conditions for employees and increase handling efficiency and conservation of our goods.”
Clad-rack warehouses are buildings formed by racks that support their own weight, of the stored goods, as well as of the lateral and roof cladding. During the design phase, one must take into account factors that interact with the structure, such as the force of the wind, the seismicity corresponding to the installation’s zone and the local regulations in force.
This type of construction is widely used in frozen storage chambers since it only takes up the space that is strictly necessary, which pays off in terms of lower power costs to keep the installation at sub-zero temperatures. The structure is assembled on top of a heavy-duty concrete slab that insolates the floor and sides of the building.
The automatic PS system was set up and run by stacker cranes in a chamber made up of three, 143 m long aisles and a block of racks on each side that hold between eight and sixteen pallets deep. Overall, the storage capacity reaches a total of 33,696, 1,000 x 1,200 mm pallets with a 1,120 kg max weight each.
The Pallet Shuttle is a high-density system suited to consumer products and a large volume of pallets per SKU. The model installed in the Bem Brasil warehouse is fully automated: three stacker cranes (one per aisle) transport the merchandise between the input and output positions of the warehouse up to any storage channel.
Inside the channels, the automatic shuttles execute the workflow movements with the goods automatically, shifting the pallets to the first open spot. To draw out the goods that must be sent from the warehouse, the Pallet Shuttles collect the pallets, send them to the end of the channel and insert them into the stacker crane’s cradle.
Less is more at this centre’s operations: the receipt and dispatch of goods take place at one end of the warehouse via a circuit of chain and roller conveyors that organise pallet flows.
There are twin reception stations, each of which is allocated to a specific type of goods that is going to be housed in the warehouse:
No matter where the goods flow from, the pallets must pass through the checkpoint, which verifies they are in good condition and their weight and measurements correspond to the quality requirements in the automated warehouse.
The warehouse has a huge staging area with twenty live channels that are each seven pallets deep. This zone is set apart from the automated warehouse via vertical doors to stop cold loss.
Roller channels are slightly inclined so that pallets slide via gravity from the highest to the lowest point, which faces the docks. The rollers have a split setup at the exit point, meaning pallet trucks can slip their forks in to extract the pallets.
The Easy WMS warehouse management system by Mecalux is tasked with coordinating and spearheading all in-warehouse operations, as well as assuring everything is running smoothly.
Among its primary functions are the receipt, location allotment and storage of pallets as per their start point and turnover, or the extraction and the end shipping destination.
Moreover, given this is a fully automated warehouse, the Galileo control module was implemented that sends movement orders to the various devices within the installation (conveyors, stacker cranes and Pallet Shuttles).
Automated clad-rack warehouse | |
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Storage capacity: | 33,696 pallets |
Pallet size: | 1,000 x 1,200 mm |
Max. pallet weight: | 1,120 kg |
Warehouse height: | 25 m |
Warehouse length: | 143 m |
Temperature: | -30 ºC |
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