Project Report
Temperature zones
for dairy ­products
Extending SalzburgMilch’s
refrigerated warehouse
Refrigerated warehouses for the food industry are often characterised by a product-driven
complexity requiring a great deal of experience and industry knowledge in their planning
and implementation.
In the construction and integration
of SalzburgMilch’s new high-bay
warehouse, main contractor Kardex
Mlog had to take into account different temperature zones as well as the
varying storage periods of the dairy
products in the warehouse. Following the extension, cheese, milk and
other dairy products are now stored
under optimum conditions in a common warehouse which features about
7,000 pallet locations. SalzburgMilch
produces dairy products for the European market in Salzburg. In less than
24 hours after the milk has been collected from the Austrian farmyards
and processing has begun, the first
containers are already on the market.
In the case of other products it can
take much longer depending on the
maturity required, and there may be
significant differences. Cheese, for
example, is either stored in special
ripening plants or is stored until the
optimum time by the manufacturer,
following which it is then delivered in
block form or sliced.
Project Report
Project Report
Vertical conveyors overcome the differences in level between the warehouse areas;
here in the interface ­between the new and existing building.
The Euro pallets or Düsseldorf pallets are stored by the four SRM’s in aisles that are 75 metres long.
Here again, cutting may also be carried out by external contractors. The
goods are therefore initially stored
whole and are later returned to production as sliced cheese. On top of
that, each product has different preferred temperatures at the various
processing stages, all of which must
be taken into account during storage.
The average temperature in the ambient warehouse is 15° C, whereas it is
4° C in the refrigerated warehouse.
For reasons of space, the reduction
in product temperature after leaving
production must take place particularly rapidly. Rapid cooling locations
were therefore installed in the rack
system, which cool down the ambient
palletised loads individually in a very
short space of time. Depending on the
product and container size, the appropriate cooling time is specified in the
stock list, thus the loads can leave
the rapid cooling zone after the shortest possible time. The warehouse
management control system then
takes over the stock management
and restores the cooled goods in the
rack. For Kardex Mlog’s specialists,
who have already planned and implemented a number of refrigerated
warehouses, this provided an exciting,
but far from insoluble, challenge.
Proven technology,
complex software
A total of four “MSingle type A” storage and retrieval machines (SRM’s)
give the cold shoulder to the low temperatures with high-performances of
36 to 38 double cycles each per hour.
The devices, between 14 and 21 metres high, each serve an aisle some 75
metres long.
Installation of the SRM’s was carried out in advance, through the roof
of the high-bay warehouse. Full-size
Euro pallets, and the half-width Düsseldorf pallets can be picked up by
the SRM load handling devices which
position loads either single or double
deep. The Düsseldorf pallets are
then subsequently handled as pairs
in order to ensure compatibility with
the conveyor equipment. The high
output of the SRM’s is facilitated by
frequency-controlled drives which
Kardex Mlog installed partly because
of their extremely good energy efficiency. These were also installed in
the conveyor system, across some 177
locations.
The warehouse management system,
which the Neuenstadt-based com-
pany installed with partners N-GIN,
displays the complex flow of goods
individually and is characterised by
a series of innovative solutions. The
labeller receives all information on
the type of product, degree of ripeness, etc., from the warehouse
management system in digital form,
and prints this via its own printer as
a barcode label that is affixed to the
pallets. One hundred percent product
tracking is guaranteed at all times
by the intelligent system, irrespective of the location. Different “ripeness zones” can exist for example as
virtual zones, enabling a substantial
reduction in expenditure and a significant contribution to ensuring that
the warehouse capacity is optimised.
Furthermore the store has been prepared for future growth, as a fifth
aisle can be retrofitted at minimal
cost.
Rapid materials
handling equipment
Order picking is carried out on the
upper floor of the new high-bay warehouse, whilst the transfer of pallets
to and from production in the adjacent
existing building takes place on the
lower floor. Vertical conveyors are
used to overcome the differences in
height. The entire conveyor system,
also entirely planned and installed by
Kardex Mlog, is characterised by a
high output and a speed of 0.3 metres
per second. In short, the entire system moves up to 60 pallets per hour
in the order picking zone, 90 pallets
per hour for the retrieval of finished
products and around 110 pallets per
hour in the basement. This high output is indispensable in the processing
of fresh products, since the milk, once
on the market, must have a shelf life
that is as long as possible.
Difficult spatial conditions
Whilst the temperature in the warehouse is now precisely controllable,
during the construction of the warehouse there was a freak heat wave
which made the build more difficult,
View of the new order picking zone on the
first floor.
but did not slow it down. Furthermore, due to the confined site conditions construction was made even
more complex. However, the project
management team succeeded in
compensating for the shortcomings in
the warehouse and assembly areas by
means of just-in-time deliveries and
meticulous planning and coordination.
Whilst this proved to be somewhat
expensive due to the location of the
building site in the city-centre, the
on-going operation of SalzburgMilch
plant could not be interrupted.
As a sign of the high level of satisfaction and the positive attitudes of all
involved, Kardex Mlog has opened a
branch in nearby Anthering just as the
project concluded, from which it will
serve the Austrian market. The official opening took place in a joint event
with its client SalzburgMilch.
MLOG Logistics GmbH
Wilhelm-Maybach-Straße 2
74196 Neuenstadt am Kocher
Germany
Fon: +49 7139 4893-2 1 3
Fax: +49 7139 4893-394
[email protected]
Project Report
Temperature zones
for dairy ­products
Extending SalzburgMilch’s
refrigerated warehouse
Visit www.kardex-mlog.com
for detailed information.