Increased raw materials prices – but: Quality has its price
The spirits branch is anxiously watching the rising costs of energy, raw materials, transport and packaging. EU stocks of raw agricultural produce have dwindled following poor harvests and are so no longer able to make up for fluctuations in volume. In addition, the branch is faced with a dramatic upsurge in costs due to the rise in glass prices. Savings potential is often only to be found in the manufacturing and storage processes. A challenge, especially for logistics – innovative automation solutions from Westfalia:
- cost-efficient, as more goods can be stored in less space
- flexible, as adaptation to actual plant conditions is possible
- improved quality, due to careful goods handling
Practical example: Moselland eG Winzergenossenschaft – Bernkastel-Kues
The Winzergenossenschaft Moselland eG cooperative with its HQ in Bernkastel-Kues is not only the largest wine producer in Rhineland-Palatinate, but also the largest producer of Riesling in the world. Constant growth in the business exhausted its storage capacities, which could only be increased by extending the wine cellars.
Special challenge due to multi-level flow of materials
With the aim of optimum space usage, Westfalia built a fully automatic Satellite® storage facility with materials handling equipment to convey the goods carriers from the cellar to the production facility one floor up and to dispatch. One special challenge here was the installation of the vertical conveyors, which extended 3 m beyond the cellar ceiling and had to be specifically adapted to conditions on site. To also make full usage of space in the wine cellar, Westfalia provided for variable channel depths when designing the integrated storage system. The inventory management software was carefully tailored to the special requirements of the cellar and ensures complete transparency, high flexibility and simple operation more...
The Westfalia system portfolio for the spirits branch:
- Automated pallet logistics
- Order picking systems
- Batch tracing systems
- Truck guidance systems
- Inventory management systems