SECTORS

Automatic packaging warehouse installed in the food industry: efficiency, speed, and control.

Problem

Basso Fedele and Sons was founded in 1904 by Fedele Basso and is in its 4th generation with CEO Sabino Basso.

The site covers 12,500sqm and now exports in 80 countries including around Europe, in the US, Canada, Australia, South Africa, and Japan. In over one hundred years of olive oil production, the company reached high levels of specialization. To grow and satisfy the market’s high demands, along with maintaining high-quality standards, it became necessary to optimize production and the supply chain.

Solution

Automha analyzed the plant to integrate automation with the existing warehouse management systems. The works for this new automatic warehouse began in September 2011 and included three major actions:

Automatic storage containers

This warehouse is used for the storage of packagings such as bottles and cans. Automha created a self-supporting, 3-level structure with an in-hole portion of the structure reaching a height of 14 meters. This way, we were able to quintuple the stock. For the management of LU and refilling/picking operations, we used 1 stacker crane with AUTOSAT SUPERCAPACITOR satellite, handling input and output of 25LU/hour. The WMS software by Automha completed the organization of each phase to deliver the product.

Finished product warehouse

This solution includes 3 AUTOSATMOVER on 3 overlapped input lines. An automatic hoist takes the pallet to a determined height. There are two output lines, each made of three overlapped conveyance sections. At the LU picking bays, there is an operator with a forklift, who carries the goods to the shipping area. Using these machines and logistic solutions, it is possible to achieve a movement of 75 unit loads per hour, both input and output.

The solution to connecting the existing production lines (5 with a frequency of 40LU/hour) to the finished product warehouse was found by using a laser-guided ADV Fx.

Advantages

The Automha plant for Basso company was officially tested in December and soon revealed itself a great choice for the company. The previous static packaging warehouse was demolished, liberating the area for production. The packaging warehouse went from a 100 SKU to a 600 SKU capacity with a handling speed of 25 SKU/hr. The finished goods warehouse satisfied the client’s requests boasting a movement of 75 SKU/hr and a capacity of 850 SKUs.