One of the most modern and efficient meat-processing facilities in Europe was recently built in Rheinstetten (Baden Württemberg, Germany). At the facility, owned by EDEKA Südwest Fleisch GmbH and covering an area of more than 40,000 m², top quality sausage and meat products are produced and then delivered to over 1,250 outlets of EDEKA Südwest from mid-2011 onwards.
The high quality of the products and the delivery of the correct goods on schedule to the Edeka supermarkets are crucial factors for ensuring customer satisfaction and commercial success.
As the main contractor in the field of warehouse logistics, Vanderlande Industries has made a significant contribution to the productivity and efficiency of the new facility with state-of-the-art, reliable, energy-efficient and high-performance technology coupled with intelligent controls. Between the areas of production and dispatch, Vanderlande Industries has planned and organised a logistics system in close collaboration with EDEKA Südwest that fully meets the current and future requirements of the market. From goods in to delivery to stores, a logistics system has been created here that intelligently coordinates storage, order picking, handling, consolidation, sortation and sequencing tasks, interconnects them and thus enables products to be processed efficiently. A conveyor system covering over 3,000 metres links a variety of logistics areas, ensuring that the entire system operates smoothly.
A 20-aisle QUICKSTORE HDS shuttle system from Vanderlande Industries forms the technological heart of the facility: approximately 50,000 storage locations accommodate the totes of meat and sausage products coming from production. 140 high-performance QUICKSTORE HDS shuttles enable fast and reliable storage and retrieval in the automated warehouse.
In addition to direct loading from production, the QUICKSTORE HDS shuttle system is also replenished quickly and efficiently by an attached high-bay storage system, with over 3,000 pallet storage locations and ten attached de-palletising workstations (including two fully automated robot systems).
The order picking area allows quick and accurate order picking in line with customers’ requirements: with a direct connection to the QUICKSTORE HDS shuttle system, over 570 flow racks distributed across 19 workstations are continuously replenished, enabling operators to pick the goods quickly and ergonomically (“man-to-goods” principle, but in a “small” area and without having to walk long distances).
Two PICK@EASE workstations also provide a further, highly flexible customised order picking system (“goods-to-man” principle). A system-wide empty tote distribution process ensures the constant availability of empty totes at the individual workstations.
In addition to its storage and retrieval function, the QUICKSTORE HDS shuttle system also acts as a consolidation store: partly finished orders (e.g. from picking) are stored temporarily until they are complete and after completion are retrieved with related order totes and transported to the dispatch area via the conveyor system. In the dispatch area, a high-performance sortation system, consisting of a Vanderlande Industries POSISORTER with attached tower buffers as sequencers, ensures that the individual order totes are released for dispatch in the correct sequence. Semi-automatic workstations then support the loading of roll cages, which are subsequently delivered to EDEKA stores on schedule and in accordance with orders.
Thanks to the intelligent and flexible solutions from Vanderlande Industries, EDEKA Südwest’s high standards are guaranteed for the future. Its wide-ranging experience and high level of expertise, combined with innovative solutions and ideas, make Vanderlande Industries a strong and efficient partner to the meat industry.
For more information about order fulfilment systems, visit Vanderlande Industries at www.vanderlande.com.
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