Time to Automate

Dairy Field, Oct 2004 by Dudlicek, Shonda Talerico

From labor savings to just-in-time inventory, automation is the wave of warehousing's future.

Space has always been at a premium in most dairy processing plants. With necessary machinery taking up a huge part of a facility's overall footprint, processors need to make the most of the space they do have for warehousing - all the while attempting to cut down the time products actually remain stored.

Robotics is playing a large part in automated storage and retrieval (ASR) systems, which by itself is a big leap that many dairy processors are reluctant to take because of the initial expense. But as suppliers point out and processors are discovering, the benefits of an ASR system far outweigh the start-up costs.

"There are many, many dairy operations that are looking at automation but are unsure whether it's right for them," says Dan Labell, president, Westfalia Technologies, York, Pa.

Automated systems can be built higher, saving on space and construction cost. "We find in many applications we're bidding right now, by the time you add the conventional construction costs of the additional building space required, you're paying for a significant amount of the machinery. Yet many people invest in more brick and mortar, which doesn't save you operating costs such as labor, product damage or accuracy," Labell says. "In addition, the depreciation of a building is 39 years. On a machine it's seven years. There's obviously some tax advantages in investing more in automation and machinery rather than a building."

Westfalia Technologies specializes in ASRs, and Labell says his company's systems are unique because of their design. Customized systems can range as high as 120 feet or as low as 15 feet, depending on a plant's needs. "We provide the warehouse management systems, so the software supports the systems as well as conveyors and other material-handling equipment to bring product from manufacturing or receiving into a warehouse and then we provide automated order-selection systems so that one can pick orders to the unit level," he says.

Westfalia's newest ASRs are rail-driven and allow for a narrower aisle - about 5 feet, 3 inches wide, compared to 9- to 12-foot widths found in most warehouses. The company's storage retrieval machine operates in a narrower space because it doesn't have to turn around, and it can store a pallet to its left and right sides without having to rotate itself in the aisle, like a forklift would have to, Labell explains. "The aisle doesn't have to be much wider than the pallet itself," he says.

Oregon's Tillamook County Creamery Association and Hershey Creamery Co., Harrisburg, Pa., utilize Westfalia's satellite technology for its ASRs. Westfalia ASRs were installed in Tillamook's recent warehouse expansion, adding a 15,000-pallet position system. At Hershey, Westfalia built a 7,500-pallet-position automated warehouse with integrated order selection, and recently expanded it by about 50 percent. With satellite technology, which retrieves pallets from a rack structure and is best for high-density applications, this flexibility allows for storage lanes to be anywhere from one to 12 pallets deep.

Assessing Needs

With dairies, saving time is always a challenge. Processors seeking to compress the time schedule for loading their trucks with finished fluid product can look to automation.

"I think most of our applications have similar problems. They are trying to get their products to their customers in the most efficient manner and the shortest amount of time. So usually the challenges are in how can we take this space and create a load-out/shipping system that can perhaps load out in 10 hours instead of 18," Labell says, referring to a recent project for Danone in Argentina and Santee Dairies in City of Industry, Calif.

When determining a processor's needs, there are questions a supplier needs to ask, Labell says. "How many gallons of milk or pounds of cheese or pallets of product are they storing? How do we get that into the space required? How many machines do we need to handle the throughputs, for example, the volume the plant will produce? How do we integrate the possible order selection systems within the distribution center - meaning I don't just ship pallets, I also ship cases and perhaps even individual units," he says. "How do I get those to my customers and how do I do that in the most efficient manner?"

Ready to take warehousing technology a step further, Westfalia is rolling out pallet-less multiple deep-layer storage and retrieval systems, for those operations desiring automated layer picking. What makes the multiple deep-layer load system unique is its use of a storage rack support member under each layer, rather than a pallet to support the layer, Labell says.

"Each pallet is broken down into layers using a robot with a de-palletizing end-effecter," he explains. "Now imagine putting them in a storage system one layer at a time and storing these layers without a pallet."

Westfalia's new ASR system is designed to accommodate fluid products shipped in 16- or 24-quart plastic dairy cases. The system also handles palletized product so cases of fluid product and palletized loads of corrugated product can be handled within the same system.