Page 42 - FoodFocusThailand No.188 November 2021

SPECIAL FOCUS
SPECIAL FOCUS

Cutting Energy and Operational Costs,

Maximising Capabilities

in the Cold Chain

The cold chain sector is evolving fast in Asia, expanding to meet the
changing dietary habits of an increasingly wealthier, more connected
population. This is posing challenges for cold chain operations, with
the need to handle growing volumes and ever-expanding range of
products as their companies seek to meet consumer demands. At the
same time, cold chain operations are facing challenges from rising
energy costs, increasing labour costs and lack of labour availability.

Having automated their production lines, many companies are turning of AGVs means that as throughput requirements and pickup and delivery
to logistics automation to further optimise their complete production and destinations change, pathways can be easily adjusted and additional
logistics operations, reduce costs, and improve customer service levels. AGVs ready to be added to the fleet.
ASRS maximise storage capacity and reduce energy Multishuttle Buffers: Optimising the Production-
costs by up to 40% By maximising storage density and allowing Storage Interface Production lines and storage can be further
greater storage heights, ASRS systems require up to 60% less space integrated and optimised by implementing Multishuttle Buffers between
compared to conventional manual pallet storage. As a result, operations the two processes.
can reduce the cubic volume required to store products, resulting in The Multishuttle Buffer is an ASRS case storage and sequencing
significant savings in energy required for cooling. Reducing the building engine. Product coming off the production line can be consolidated in the
dimensions also minimises the primary sources of temperature loss Multishuttle Buffer (with active-freezing if the application requires it), and
including the floor, ceiling, and walls, which equates to a more cost- sequenced out to the palletiser, prior to transport to the ASRS.
effective refrigeration system. The solution can be deployed to fit within virtually any space, reducing
The doors to the automated freezer warehouse are smaller and open the size of temperature-controlled zones and driving down associated
less often, providing additional energy savings. Without operators, ASRS cooling costs. The solution significantly reduces the number of workers
systems also require significantly less lighting, further reducing energy needed, as well as pallet truck and forklift movements, reducing operating
consumption. costs.
Reducing land footprint, locating storage next to Optimising Order Fulfillment in Cold Chain Case and item
production By increasing storage density and allowing greater storage picking is becoming more common in cold chain operations across Asia
heights, ASRS reduces the required land footprint. This reduces land as retail grocery customers request smaller quantities of products rather
costs and opens up options for locating cold storage facilities closer to than full pallet loads. While technologies such as Voice Picking – where
customers. an operator is directed and confirms picks by voice - can improve
Having a smaller footprint, ASRS also allows storage to be built next productivity and accuracy, the latest Goods-to-Person (GTP) and goods
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to production facilities, eliminating the need for costly refrigerated road palletising solutions provide a significant step up in productivity and
transport between the factory and the warehouse. No longer does accuracy.
production have to stop if the staging area in the factory gets congested, While in a traditional order picking system, pickers travel to storage
saving space with an ASRS may also free up land for expanding locations which takes time; in GTP and goods palletising systems, the
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production lines. products are delivered to the picker at the order picking workstation. The
performance benefits are immense: while in a traditional picking system
Reducing labour and operational costs with ASRS a picker may typically do 80 order lines per hour, with Voice this may
ASRS fully automates the process of product storage and retrieval, increase to 120 order lines per hour, in a GTP system operators can handle
eliminating ‘touches’ by operators, greatly reducing warehouse labour up 300-500 order lines per hour. What’s more, while product is stored in
and operating costs. Productivity gains of up to 30% can typically be freezers, the workstations can be located in a chilled zone, providing a
achieved with ASRS. more comfortable working environment for operators and eliminating the
ASRS also reduces waste, damage to products and equipment need for anyone to work in the harsh freezer environment.
associated with forklift trucks, and typically have lower maintenance Food & Beverage manufacturers are realising the significant benefits
requirements compared to forklift leasing and maintenance costs. delivered by ASRS, AGVs, Multishuttles and the latest Order Fulfillment
AGVs: Integrating processing lines and ASRS for technologies. These solutions allow operations to maximise storage
capacities, improve productivity, reduce labour-dependency, improve
increased reliability and flexibility For consolidated customer service levels, optimise the interface between production lines
production and distribution facilities, automating the complete process and warehousing, improve safety and security and realise substantial
from end-of-production line palletising to an ASRS minimises redundancy savings on energy and operational costs. With the cost of automation
and increases resilience. This eliminates potential bottlenecks to critical falling significantly in recent years, the business case and return on
process operations – which can occur in manual systems. investment of these technologies has never been greater.
While pallet conveyors and monorails provide robust and reliable
links between production and automated storage, the ideal solution for
operations that are looking for maximum replacement of redundant tasks
and increased flexibility are Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs). Aside More Information Service Info C005
from providing reliable and cost-effective pallet transport, the flexibility

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