Oberbüren/Kriens, September 20, 2022 – Mozzarella keeps rolling on the road to success: For the fourth time now, supply chain automation specialist Westfalia Logistics Solutions Switzerland AG has added a large-scale extension to the intralogistics of Züger Frischkäse AG. Through the extension of the fresh products warehouse, the retrieval capacity of the overall system has been increased by 150 to a total of 400 pallets per hour while 700 pallet rack positions have been added to the storage capacity.

The contract was awarded in March 2020, in December 2021 the west extension of Switzerland’s largest mozzarella producer and fifth-largest milk processor went into operation. Established in 1998 as a stock company (AG), the family company now employs 280 staff at the Swiss municipality of Oberbüren. The west extension was implemented over the course of 20 months. In total, the company invested over 10 million Swiss Francs.

Züger Frischkäse AG has passed on its knowledge of meticulous cheese production within the family for generations. The great-great grandfather of the current owners Christof and Markus Züger was already a passionate cheesemaker back in 1850. Their father, Edwin Züger, decided to manufacture the then still less-known soft cheese products instead of traditional cheese varieties. The first Züger mozzarella was ready for the market in 1984. Soft cheese products still enjoy great popularity. Apart from mozzarella, the company’s output includes butter, soft cheese, mascarpone, ricotta and curds, feta-style cheese, cottage cheese, and cheese for grilling and frying.

Driven by ingenuity and entrepreneurial initiative, Christof and Markus Züger opened up export markets and launched new specialities and various convenience products. In June they launched a worldwide novelty with “Züger MozzaVella”, a vegan, almond and oat-based mozzarella. It immediately reached the top 60 of 1,600 novel products in the Taste category of the Anuga 2021 innovation competition. “We are continuing to expand our line of vegan products,” says Christof Züger. “Next to come are vegan alternatives to mascarpone, salad cheese and cottage cheese.“

The company uses state-of-the-art technology such as a coagulator and extensive automation. In 2019, a solar plant with an annual output of 450,000 kWh went into operation. 50 percent of products are exported, some as far as India and South Korea. The main customer is Germany. The company processes between 400 and 450 tons of milk every day, 20 percent of which are organic milk. Having doubled its volume in the last ten years, the company plans to expand its capacity again in the coming years. “Using the latest technologies, we want to develop our company further in order to meet increasingly fast-changing customer needs,” says Christof Züger.

René Giger from Westfalia's sales operation in Switzerland has accompanied the company’s intralogistics automation since 2006. In 2010, Westfalia’s first assignment was to implement the automated fresh products compact storage system with 2,500 pallet rack positions. In the course of the most recent big assignment (the fourth of its kind), the intralogistics specialist created an extension to the west of the warehouse. “We had to increase the through-put capacity since it was no longer possible to logistically move the growing number of products through the facility,” is how René Giger describes the challenge. “In addition, more packaging material had to be kept in store to counterbalance rising prices, shortage of raw materials, availability challenges and longer delivery periods, among other things. The option of 700 additional fresh-products storage spaces offered itself as a result of the compact layout.” The self-supporting silo design saves hall construction costs.

Previously, there were six vertical conveyors embedded in an overall system with a daily throughput of approx. 2000 pallets, linking the automated cold storage warehouse with a frozen storage facility and a packaging warehouse. René Giger: “We have installed two more single-column vertical conveyors and integrated them with additional conveyor technology on five levels. The lifts are equipped with roller conveyors on turntables. That way, depending on the floor level, unit loads can be picked up and delivered both from the front and from the side.”

The vertical conveyors move some additional 150 pallets per hour at a speed of up to 90 meters per minute over a lift height of 24.5 meters, moving between storage on the fifth floor, retrieval on the fourth floor, a wet area with stainless steel conveyor technology and production level on the second floor, the first floor which serves as picking level, and the basement containing block storage facilities. The extension also increases the storage capacity of goods coming in from production and packaging. The plants run 24/7. Fire doors separate the adjacent wells from the five connected floors.

Photo source: Westfalia Logistics Solutions Europe / Marcello Engi

The Satellite^® moves from the stacker crane into the multi-deep storage channels of the packaging warehouse. Thanks to the high storage capacity, it is possible to purchase packaging in large quantities at favorable market prices and keep it in stock.

The storage system supplies the production area with precisely the required quantities and replenishes the packaging stock. If packaging is required in the production process, it is transported from the packaging warehouse to the vertical conveyor and to production by the storage and conveyor systems.

More goods on rails – this has long been a reality in the fresh cheese warehouse of Züger Frischkäse AG. Fast storage and retrieval lines and two SRMs in one storage aisle ensure the necessary throughput in line with the ever-growing product range.

Westfalia technology operates robustly even at a frosty -18°C. For example, the frozen warehouse contains cut blocks of mozzarella that are later defrosted at the customer’s facility and used for sandwich production.

The high number of vertical conveyors is a special feature of the storage system: “Right from the beginning, our Satellite^® warehousing technology was a must for the logistics solutions because of the limited place – we built all three warehouses on what used to be the roof of the building,” says Giger. The extra compact, multi-deep storage systems that are up to five levels high can be fit even into very limited floor space.

“Having completed the 4°C fresh-products storage system measuring 115 x 15 x 11 meters, we then installed the -18°C frozen-storage facility with the dimensions 30 x 24 x 11 meters and 1,400 storage spaces in 2012. In 2014, this was followed by the packaging warehouse which measures 40 x 34 x 11 meters and provides space for approx. 3,000 pallet rack positions. That way, we automated the internal intralogistics processes.” So now all temperature zones have been put into operation at one customer facility.

The system is designed for wooden and plastic Euro pallets, for plastic paloxes and for unit loads measuring up to 1.3 meters in width, 0.9 meters in depth and 1.8 meters in height. In cold and frozen storage, pallets can weigh up to one tonne while the packaging material units can reach a weight of up 250 kg each. At the Züger facility, Westfalia has deployed all components forming part of its storage systems, including its proprietary programmable logic controller (PLC) and its Satellite^® key technology for highly compact storage including roller beds, roller conveyors, chain conveyors, turntables and two transfer cars which supply the pick location on the first floor.

The four storage and retrieval machines (SRM) each transport approx. 60 pallets per hour in double-cycle operation and are equipped with the Chain Satellite^® load handling device. The SRMs in the packaging warehouse and in the fresh products warehouse store goods lengthwise, the SRM in the frozen warehouse stores them crosswise. In order to double the access frequency, two SRMs run on a single rail. Each warehouse manages with one aisle. The low number of vehicles reduces energy consumption thanks to the lower base load in standby mode; with fewer individual components, maintenance requirements are also reduced. Up to now, there has been no need for modernization of the electromechanical system.

With up to 18 storage spaces in a row, the storage channels in Züger’s packaging warehouse are among the deepest Westfalia has ever implemented. In these channels, the satellite moves up to 25.6 meters away from the SRM. These channels are highly suitable for single-variety items or items which need to be accessed only with medium frequency but use around 95 percent of the space for storage.

At the Züger facility, Westfalia’s warehouse execution system Savanna.NET^® generates up to 8000 transport orders per day. The system combines warehouse management and warehouse controlling, i.e., it administers storage spaces and warehouse stock and at the same time controls the flow of material – “with all project specific features such as two SRMs on one rail or a vertical conveyor with two load handling devices on top of each other,” says Christian Goltermann, Westfalia’s Software & IT head of sales. “It exchanges data with the CSB host system, automatically fills and empties a rapid cooling zone, and supplies a pick zone and the three different product and temperature zones – fresh, frozen and normal temperature for packaging.“

Apart from the software, Westfalia implemented additional Savanna workstations of the TERRA brand as clients of the CSB host system, an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)software catering to the food industry. Twenty TERRA workstations are located at feeding points throughout the entire facility. In addition, the system has been upgraded with six control scanners connected to Savanna and the ERP system. This excludes the risk of data skews between warehouse management and material flow computer. As says René Giger: “Time-consuming error analysis is no longer necessary.” Looking forward Westfalia will not have to reach as high as the roof; however, future extensions of the customer’s facility will also have to use additional industrial space as efficiently as possible.

The step-by-step expansion of the automated storage system on highly limited floor space drives forward the development of the company, says the competent project manager of Züger Frischkäse AG, Silvan Egger. “Although the first warehouse was implemented as long back as 2010, we have been able to upgrade it, convert it, and bring it up to date. This expandability has great advantages for the company and its development. The current addition of two vertical conveyors allows to massively increase our productivity. Especially in logistics, trucks no longer have to wait for the pallets.”

The long-standing cooperation has proven its worth according to Silvan Egger: “Specialist domain expertise has ensured that we got the solution that is best for us. This includes a spare parts store that is kept as simple as possible and availability of components that are the same as in the previous years. We work together with Westfalia employees who have been around for many years. It was possible to implement ideas and improvements while the project was ongoing. And we were able to smoothly integrate the new plant into our legacy system.” Therefore the project manager is happy to recommend the intralogistics specialist. “Westfalia is a highly specialized SME with very competent employees. The company maintains a high level of vertical integration which means that it does not simply buy the required components but is a plant manufacturer in its own right. Westfalia manufactures its own equipment, the stacker cranes are robust and durable. In terms of control technology, all solutions are developed and implemented in-house together with us.”

Product storage on the second floor: Manual on-site panels and the Savanna.NET^® warehouse execution system ensure process transparency and enable manual corrections to the warehouse strategy. The Westfalia WES generates around 8000 transport orders a day.

 

Two vertical conveyors make the difference. Moving at up to 90 meters per minute, they rise to 24.5 meters, flexibly connecting all floors by means of turntables with roller conveyors. The system increases the retrieval performance by 150 pallets to a total of 400 pallets per hour.

The highly compact multi-deep storage can be tailored to fit even into limited floor space. At Züger Frischkäse AG, the storage area was built onto the former roof. Source of arial view: Fabio Martin