Burkhardt Fruit Juices reorganises its warehouse logistics
Increased filling quantities and the expanded range of products requires more warehouse capacity. To realise this on headquarters in Machtolsheim, without big changes in construction, they reorganised the mentioned logistics processes by using modern storage technics and by reworking the complete layout of their warehouse.
The task
They needed additional space for the planned expansion of the filling line. Given that there were no free space inside the production area and no planned arrangements to enlarge the existing buildings, converted a part of the storage of finished goods for the new filling line. The increasing required space tightened additionally the developed capacity constraint. The obvious solution was the using of an already existing external storage area. But this would result in an extensive and cost-intensive shuttle-transport. Therefore the best solution was the implementation of a higher storage capacity on reduced spaces inside the existing building.
The company
- Burkhardt Fruit Juices is one of the most successful producers of juice in the region due to its 90-year tradition and its filling capacity of by now 25 million bottles a year.
- Powered by the own high requirements of quality and deep-rooted to the region Schwäbische Alb, the company supplies crop by crop the gastronomy and the retail with plenty of premium juices and refreshing new creations of juice.
The solution
After a detailed analysis of the range of goods and the stock situation a concept was developed which realises the necessary increase of capacity and also helps to redesign the internal processes more efficient and without having expensive replacements.
That means:
- restructuring of one storage area from block storage to storage racks by installation of compact and at once flexible storage technic (shuttle-assisted storage)
- explicit separation of pick- and storing processes by setting of a only picking area (therefore it is no need of picking in the block or rack storage)
- reduction of the traffic ways by using of suitable and space-saving ground conveyors (high-reach forklifts)
- repositioning of the top articles close to production and loading
- compensation of the complex handling in the shuttle storage by improvement of processes in the remaining warehouse areas.
The result
The restructuring of the finished goods store and the joined processes leads to:
- almost ten percent capacity growth – in spite of reduced storage spaces
- more productive storage processes with once more reduced error rate
- a clearly increased efficiency of warehouse in the finished goods store
- a smooth realisation of a new filling line in the production