SECTORS

Automatic food warehouse: Autosatmover

El Pozo, one of the most respected food businesses in Spain, is headquartered in the region of Murcia.

The company was founded in 1954 when its production activities began with the first cured meat factory in its region and the sale of its products.Today, four out of five Spanish families choose El Pozo’s high quality meat products, both fresh and processed and cured.

Guided by a philosophy of continuous improvement, the company dedicates a large number of resources to the research and development of healthy, nourishing food, with attention to maintaining affordable prices. With over 60 years of history and an established presence in the market in over 80 countries worldwide, over the last few years El Pozo has seen considerable growth, which has necessitated rethinking its internal logistics and evaluating potential warehouse expansions.

For this reason, El Pozo decided to entrust Automha, with whom it shares a pioneering approach and a desire to invest continually in improving its business. This collaboration led to the construction of an automatic food storage warehouse, developed within an existing building and designed for fresh products. The operating environment is set at a temperature of between -18°C and -26°C with humidity maintained at a constant level.

Problem

El Pozo has seen considerable growth in recent years: an increase of 18% in sales abroad and an increase of 8% in the workforce in 2017 alone. The Spanish company found itself faced with warehouses that were unsuitable for the large volumes of work, which in the long term would have meant that it would be unable to provide a service in line with its principles of efficiency and putting the customer first. Automha was selected for this reason.

Automha’s solution was focused on making use of an existing building, creating an automatic food storage that, on the one hand, made full use of the existing area by utilizing a building that was not fully taken advantage of, and on the other, increased the amount of stored goods.

Once the problem of space was resolved, the main obstacle appeared to be how to construct a warehouse with low temperatures and constant humidity levels, conditions that are generally poorly tolerated by mechanical and electronic instruments. El Pozo was able to rely on Automha, which has always invested in the research and development of machines and systems that work in extreme temperatures without affecting their performance.

Solution

The new Automha warehouse makes use of the entire area: 56x27x22 m. After deciding to use an existing building to create the new warehouse, Automha opted to install Autosatmover, the ideal, fully automated system for multi-depth storage, which could be perfectly adapted according to the building constraints.

This machine, designed by Automha without batteries and using instead a patented system that supplies power though busbars, is fully compatible with low-temperature storage operations.

The warehouse has 10 storage levels. Each level is managed by an Autosatmover, which handles single-item pallets.

The system is composed of the following machines.

• 10 Autosatmovers
• 2 Lifters

The management software is AWM with HMI interface; the AWM communicates with the customer’s ERP system. In addition, there is an incoming and outgoing handling system on two levels. The system is also able to perform 50 single cycles each hour of incoming goods and 50 of outgoing goods. The transported loading units reach a maximum weight of 750 kg, for a total of 4,750 stored loading units.

Advantages

In 2018 and for the third year running, El Pozo was one of the most purchased brands by Spanish families, with significant growth also in exports. Thanks to the new warehouse, the company now efficiently meets the growing demand while maintaining its quality standards.

The adoption of Autosatmover enabled the use of a multi-depth storage system and, since it is a compact machine designed to move along the outer aisle of the storage shelving, ensured that full use was made of the internal spaces of the warehouse.

Lastly, each level is served by a Lifter, which takes the pallets picked by the automatic vehicle to the handling bays and vice versa, allowing, therefore, Autosatmover to complete missions even during the ascent and descent phases of the lifters, and thereby guaranteeing continuous activity without wasting time and resources.