
Mecalux builds a clad-rack automatic warehouse ready for the future
Dafsa, an example of automation, integration and growth
Video transcription
Drink a juice, heat up a puree... very day-to-day activities. But behind each brick there are hundreds of miles from the garden to the supermarket shelves.
Dafsa is Mercadona’s exclusive provider for juices, nectars, smoothies, horchata and natural purees.
Its production, packaging and distribution plant in Segorbe, Castellón, is 66,000 m2 in size and is one of the most efficient and eco-friendly within Europe.y es una de las más eficientes y sostenibles de toda Europa.
A leading company needed a partner like Mecalux to be able to carry out the innovative automated warehouse project that provides service to one of Spain’s food giants.
What stands out about the project is the spectacular automated rack supported warehouse with a carefully finished exterior that minimizes the overall landscape impact.
Jorge Dosdà Oltra (AREA MANAGER FOR LOGISTICS AND AUXILIARY MATERIAL PURCHASING)
One of the points that made us decide that Mecalux was the ideal supplier for this project was that it could provide both the storage structures, as well as the computer management system that guarantees our entire tracking.
The pallets with the finished product arrive at the warehouse, using robotic pallet trucks, from the packaging area to the conveyors, located in the lower area.
A loading gauge validates the condition of each pallet.
The entries are carried out by means of a double vertical reciprocating conveyor that raises the pallets to the upper level. Four stacker cranes collect them to be placed in the rack location allocated to them.
For production needs, Dafsa interchangeably handles two types of load units: Euro-pallets and medium sized pallets.
To be able to handle medium sized pallets, Mecalux installed conveyors with less spacing between rollers, chain conveyors with four strands and three cross-ties in the racks for depositing the load with utmost security.
To store their products, Dafsa has organized the warehouse so that three stacker cranes are earmarked for ambient temperature products and a fourth for refrigerated, separated by a cold-storage panel with an automatic opening access door.
The warehouse is ready for future expansion and has enough space to install three new stacker cranes.
Jorge Dosdà Oltra (AREA MANAGER FOR LOGISTICS AND AUXILIARY MATERIAL PURCHASING)
Thanks to Mecalux we have doubled our storage capacity in a short time and thereby ensured the service to our customers
The stacker cranes deposit the pallets for their dispatch in the lower level and two shuttles take them to the pallet flow channels according to the loading dock to which they belong. There are seven groups of channels, five for products that are stored at ambient temperature and two that are temperature controlled to ensure the cold chain.
Each channel group allows for the exact number of pallets for a full truckload.
The channels incorporate a ground breaking system of foldable bays for easy cleaning.
The Easy WMS warehouse management software from Mecalux manages all processes, from entries to dispatch.
A company like Dafsa, who sets the bar high in the area of food quality and safety, required a warehouse that is compatible with their needs.
Jorge Dosdà Oltra (AREA MANAGER FOR LOGISTICS AND AUXILIARY MATERIAL PURCHASING)
Dafsa has high standards, which is also what we ask of our suppliers and what Mecalux is able to guarantee.
The rack supported warehouse, built and designed by Mecalux, stands out because of its high level of integration and automation of processes.