The implementation of an advanced automated logistics system at the Smith’s Snackfood facility in Adelaide has won its owner, PepsiCo, an award.
The new system earned PepsiCo Australia & New Zealand the Supply Chain Management Award and the Storage & Materials Handling Award at the 2015 Australian Supply Chain and Logistics Awards.
The automated logistics system is located at PepsiCo’s snacks manufacturing and distribution centre at its Smith’s Snackfood plant at Regency Park in Adelaide.
PepsiCo said its major customers wanted Smith's to deliver direct to their central warehouses, so the company set out to change its supply chain model to meet that requirement.
Product now travels direct from its automatic case packers within the manufacturing packaging room through into the warehouse, where ever carton is automatically palletised onto a pallet, which is then automatically stretch wrapped and labelled.
The pallet is then picked up by an Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV), which transports the pallet to either the new automated warehouse or direct to the shipping dock. The only process that is not automated is the actual loading of the pallet onto a truck or into a container for transport.
“We’ve achieved our goal of putting in place an efficient strategy for going direct to our major customers which eliminates double handling of our products,” PepsiCo ANZ senior engineering manager Steve Reilly said.
“Other significant benefits include removing the need for external storage by third-parties, and reducing our stockholdings interstate. Our increased pallet capacity and automated warehouse provides sufficient capacity to cater for peak period throughputs and future growth.”
JMP Engineering from New Zealand supplied the robotic palletising system and interlinking conveyor system from the adjacent manufacturing plant, and Dematic supplied the automated warehouse storage system, cranes, conveyors and control systems, plus the interlink between the robotic palletising system and the warehouse, using NDC AGVs.
