The fully-automated frozen-storage installation of Cárnicas Chamberí

Located in Spain, between Toledo and Madrid, is the logistics centre of Cárnicas Chamberí, one of the country’s longest-established meatpacking companies.

In response to the firm's expansion plans, Mecalux has designed, built and commissioned an automated cold store for meat products. By implementing the Pallet Shuttle with stacker crane solution, this installation maximises space, speeds up the movement of goods and reduces energy consumption required for cooling.

Daniel Brea - Cárnicas Chamberí CEO
"Essentially, we’re a family business; we’re pioneers in industrial pork cutting in the Madrid area, along with other companies. Our roots are in central Spain, but we sell anywhere in the world. Mecalux’s technical and sales team has given us continuous support, meeting all our requirements. And in the end, this has resulted in an automated warehouse, which gives us maximum profitability."

The installation has a controlled temperature of -25 ºC, and it comprises a single aisle with two blocks of high-density racks on both sides measuring 7 m high.

A stacker crane moves pallets from the warehouse inflow positions to any storage channel. Once there, a motorised shuttle transfers the pallets and deposits them in each channel at the deepest open position.

The electric shuttle is equipped with supercapacitors that self-charge while on-board the stacker crane; as a result, it is always ready to carry out orders.

With this high-density system, each storage channel holds items of a single SKU.

The Pallet Shuttle with stacker crane solution was essential for fully leveraging the available storage space: in a surface area measuring merely 633 m2 and 7 metres high, it is now possible to house 1,815 pallets with a 1,000 kg maximum unit weight.

In addition to making optimal use of the space, this automated, high-density solution cuts down on energy consumption by reducing the volume that needs to be cooled. It also maintains the cold chain of the goods.

Before entering the warehouse, the pallets must go through a pre-chamber with an airlock system containing two asynchronous doors, thus preventing cold loss during goods transfers.

Process automation has shortened the time spent on each operation, speeding up product inflows and outflows and, consequently, increasing responsiveness to changes in demand. The automatic Pallet Shuttle enables Cárnicas Chamberí to move up to 120 incoming pallets and 150 outgoing pallets a day.

Juan Carlos Camacho - Chief Financial Officer
"Nowadays, all companies focus their efforts on offering optimum customer service. Mecalux has a vital tool that helps us to do this: orders are prepared at night by a robot programmed to have them completed and ready for dispatch by the time we arrive in the morning."

The movements of the pallets are controlled at all times by Easy WMS, the warehouse management system from Mecalux. This system provides real-time information on stock status and helps to make this meatpacking company’s supply chain more efficient.

The WMS is responsible for identifying items from the moment they enter the installation and for assigning them a storage slot.

Juan Carlos Camacho - Chief Financial Officer
"Mecalux has an excellent management tool called EasyWMS. How does this tool help us? It allows us to have complete control over our batches, to know where our products are located at all times, and to configure any type of packing list very quickly."

At Cárnicas Chamberí, the customer always comes first. Dealing with a growing demand is a challenge that this company has already overcome, thanks to its collaboration with Mecalux. The automation of its logistics processes was a complete success and will serve as the gateway to the firm’s international expansion.