Whenever cornfl akes, muesli or other cereals appear on the breakfast table in Western or Southern Europe, there is a high probability that they have originated from a picturesque location in the Auvergne.

In collaboration with Kardex Mlog, the German manufacturer Brüggen constructed a central goods distribution facility for the European region at Thiers in central France, which went into operation in the middle of 2008. By previously constructing a 6-aisle high-bay warehouse in Lübeck, Germany, at the

head office of the long-established high-quality cereal producers, Kardex Mlog had demonstrated their experience as specialists in the handling and storage of foodstuffs. Since many of the 800-or-so projects undertaken by the Neuenstadt based logistics experts have been for businesses in the food sector, Brüggen

once again selected Kardex Mlog to undertake the planning, construction and commissioning of the warehouse at its new French plant.

Healthy flakes storm ahead

With a double-digit growth rate, Brüggen is the fastest growing

Borderless inventory management

Construction of the new European goods distribution centre for Brüggen

Project report

cereal producer worldwide. A significant factor in the company’s growth strategy is the further reduction in delivery routes and the implementation of rapid and flexible production processes, thus guaranteeing the optimum freshness of their flakes and other healthy treats. Demand is enormous and in Thiers alone an annual production of 25,000 tonnes is planned. The new high-bay warehouse was sized accordingly, and came into operation in July 2008, after an eleven month construction period.

Today precisely 13,552 pallet locations are distributed across 4 aisles, whilst storage and retrieval is carried out by four fully automatic storage and retrieval machines (SRM’s). Each SRM has a maximum load handling capacity of 750 kilograms which is ample for the relatively light cereals.

Plans are already in place for further expansion by an additional 4 aisles

together with the necessary conveyor system modifications so that the capacity of the warehouse can be rapidly and significantly increased in the future.

Changing pallet formats

The Thiers plant is serviced by suppliers from a range of European countries, so the load handling unit standards (Europallets and other industrial pallets) vary accordingly in terms of size, format and quality. Kardex Mlog therefore introduced a slave-pallet system whereby the loads are automatically pre-slaved as required prior to storage by means of the conveyor system. Hence the plant can handle five different types of load handling unit which is of major importance for the efficiency of an international central warehouse.

Thanks to the well thought-out slave-pallet design, the plant provides

The new high-bay warehouse at Thiers in France has 4 aisles, each of which is equipped with a fully-automatic SRM. The future expansion by a further 4 aisles was taken into account during the planning phase.

The four MSingle Type B storage and retrieval machines, each 34 metres high, serve 13,552 pallets slots.

Project report

maximum availability and a very high throughput. The storage and retrieval machines each have a capability of 27 double cycles per hour whilst the conveyor system reaches a peak throughput of 180 pallets per hour.

Individual materials handling equipment

The MSingle Type B SRM’s are equipped with telescopic forks for double deep storage, each with two drives. The single-mast, 34 metre high machines were produced by Kardex Mlog at their Neuenstadt site and brought to France by heavy cargo transporters. Upon their arrival they were placed into position through a roof opening with the aid of a 600 tonne heavy-duty crane. Each SRM is connected to the client’s warehouse management control system via a TCP/IP interface with WLAN communication, and the conveyor system is connected via Profibus-DP. The interface to the higher-level SAP inventory management system was carried out by the client.

The live process display on the visualisation PC enables continuous monitoring and contributes to the required plant availability of more than 98 %. The Kardex Mlog conveyor system, which extends from goods inwards and production or filling up to despatch, is actuated by no less than 180 drives. The roller and chain conveyors, with their precisely adjustable frequency-controlled drives, reach a maximum transfer speed of 0.3 m/s and ensure that the pallets are transported smoothly. Kardex Mlog achieves the required 90 degree transfers via eccentric lifting tables at interchanges from roller conveyor to chain conveyor or via turntables from chain to chain.

Further functionality was also included such as the automated slave palletisation described above, as well as supplying the packaging plant with empty pallets and intermediate layers. Product is first stretch-wrapped and labelled, and then if necessary a slave-pallet is allocated prior to storage in the high-bay warehouse. Following retrieval, the slave-pallets are automatically separated from the load unit and brought into a pre-despatch area via an intermediate buffer. The empty slave-pallets are taken back to production from despatch via the conveyor system.

Positive balance sheet

Within an extremely short implementation period, Kardex Mlog and Brüggen succeeded in building a central European warehouse that is both efficient and future-proof. Through the slave-pallet concept,

Your contactfor this projectUdo HänigsenTel.: +49 0208 4683978-50udo.haenigsen@kardex.com

View into the impressive high-bay warehouse at Brüggen’s European goods distribution centre.

the plant availability and its flexibility in handling the different load units reaches the highest possible level. Despite long transport routes for materials, and the engineering and language barriers experienced in international projects of this type, the partnership in Thiers proved its worth. Furthermore, the trouble-free installation even impressed the local French residents – many of whom will be among the 130 employees in production and administration, since at the opening at any rate, many were eager to have the chance to take a close look behind the scenes of the new plant.

Project report

Visit www.kardex-mlog.com for detailed information.