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McCain Opening France's Biggest Cold Storage Facility
Family-owned Canadian food company teams with Westfalia, Kloosterboer on space- and energy-saving mega logistics center in Harnes
Racking of a Kloosterboer mega warehouse for frozen food in The Netherlands
Westfalia Technologies, Inc.
Installation of an automated crane before coating of the high bay silo
Westfalia Technologies, Inc.
Automated conveyor with turn table at a Kloosterboer cold store near Rotterdam
Westfalia Technologies, Inc.
Automated loading and unloading system Speedloader at a Kloosterboer cold store near Rotterdam
Westfalia Technologies, Inc.
York, PA February 17, 2009 McCain, Kloosterboer and Westfalia three family-owned enterprises from Canada, the Netherlands and Germany are teaming up to build the biggest cold storage facility in France.
The mega logistics center in Harnes is planned to be a space- and energy-saving, high-density warehouse with more than 68,000 pallet places. Westfalia will provide the high density automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS), SpeedLoader, and Savanna.NET Warehouse Management System technology.
"After intensive analysis and the calculation of alternatives, we decided to construct the logistics center in Harnes in cooperation with Kloosterboer and Westfalia," said Jean Bernou, president for McCain Central Europe. "McCain will invest about 42 million euros here. With the new logistics centre we will save unnecessary transport and electricity costs and boost our commitment to sustainability. The biggest cold store in France will be a sustainable logistics system amongst family enterprises."
The operation will be one of the biggest cold storage facilities in Europe. At a temperature of -24 degrees, nine cranes in seven aisles and two main warehouse areas will automatically handle frozen food like French fries.
McCain will be merging storage and distribution of its sites in Bιthume, Harnes and others in northern Europe at the new facility. This merger has economical and ecological advantages. The new logistics system will support McCain's declared strategy for sustainability because the high density cold store will substitute eight regional warehouses and will noticeably reduce shuttle traffic.
In addition, the special architecture of the warehouse will save on space and electricity. Kloosterboer will operate the cold store that will go into service at the beginning of 2010.
Logistics System with Two Main Areas
The new McCain warehouse will have two principal areas. In the back, the storage area will store frozen goods in long, homogenous channels. The storage warehouse will be 100 meters long, 112 meters large and 38 meters high.
The facility's cranes will be equipped with double lift Satellites able to carry industry and Euro palettes weighing up to 1,000 kilograms into channels that are 16 pallets deep. "Other systems would require many more cranes to serve such deep channels," explained Paulus Paulusma, project manager for Westfalia. In addition, the storage area will have a reduced oxygen atmosphere. This guarantees a maximum fire protection.
The front area of the logistics center will be used for picking, distribution and incoming goods. It consists of two levels connected by an elevator. On the ground floor, 12 truck gates and an automated unloading system (Speedloader) will build the interface with transport logistics. This front area will have another AS/RS for route preparation.
More than 700 meters with automated roll and chain conveyors link the two main areas and secure a fast flow of products between production, incoming goods, the storage warehouse, picking zones and the distribution area. Goods to be stored will enter the AS/RS via two ways: from a gate connected to the neighboring production site, or via conveyors located on the ground floor of the distribution area.
Looking for an Economical and Ecological Solution
"The Westfalia Satellite high density warehouse will be an economical and ecological solution for McCain. It really saves on energy and money because less space is required and fewer automated cranes have to be in operation compared to alternative systems," said Jack Kloosterboer, managing partner of Kloosterboer. A Satellite AS/RS needs fewer cranes and aisles than solutions like double-deep warehouses because they have a storage and retrieving capacity up to 16 palettes deep, according to Westfalia.
"Less cranes just consume less energy, and when running the system they produce less heat that the cooling systems would have to cool down again," added Paulusma. "Less aisles also mean less air that has to be cooled down to -24 degrees at all times consuming a lot of electricity." In addition, the high density warehouse has ecological advantages because it substitutes eight regional warehouses and helps McCain to reduce its truck traffic a lot.
Westfalia's Savanna.NET software will be handling the warehouse management of the system, including batch tracing. Savanna.NET manages and controls the flow of goods while respecting both the best-before dates and first in/first out (FIFO) warehouse strategy, according to the solution provider.
"To be able to handle peak demand in the most effective way Savanna.net organizes a continual relocation from the storage warehouse to the distribution warehouse, while considering truck tours too. The output of the system will be up to 250 pallets per hour," said Paulusma.
The Canadian family owned company McCain is the world's top company for frozen potato and finger food products. (McCain produces one of three French fries eaten worldwide.) The company was founded about 50 years ago in Florenceville, New Brunswick, by two brothers. Today, McCain runs sites in more than 110 countries around the world and employs more than 20,000 employees.
The family-owned and -managed company Kloosterboer was founded in 1925. As a logistics service provider, Kloosterboer is a specialist in temperature controlled food-related bulk cargo. The company handles potato and dairy products, fruits, fish, juices and concentrates for a variety of customers. In addition, Kloosterboer handles garlic, frozen food and ambient products.
The company's services include warehousing, stevedoring, forwarding, customs, product insurance, agency, dedicated ICT solutions and barge operation. As a third party logistics provider Kloosterboer also provides outsourcing of entire logistics systems for its customers.
York, Pa.-based Westfalia Technologies provides logistics solutions for plants, warehouses and distribution centers. Their expertise lies in combining software (WMS) development with automated equipment manufacturing to deliver turn-key solutions to meet each client's specific needs.
The mega logistics center in Harnes is planned to be a space- and energy-saving, high-density warehouse with more than 68,000 pallet places. Westfalia will provide the high density automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS), SpeedLoader, and Savanna.NET Warehouse Management System technology.
"After intensive analysis and the calculation of alternatives, we decided to construct the logistics center in Harnes in cooperation with Kloosterboer and Westfalia," said Jean Bernou, president for McCain Central Europe. "McCain will invest about 42 million euros here. With the new logistics centre we will save unnecessary transport and electricity costs and boost our commitment to sustainability. The biggest cold store in France will be a sustainable logistics system amongst family enterprises."
The operation will be one of the biggest cold storage facilities in Europe. At a temperature of -24 degrees, nine cranes in seven aisles and two main warehouse areas will automatically handle frozen food like French fries.
McCain will be merging storage and distribution of its sites in Bιthume, Harnes and others in northern Europe at the new facility. This merger has economical and ecological advantages. The new logistics system will support McCain's declared strategy for sustainability because the high density cold store will substitute eight regional warehouses and will noticeably reduce shuttle traffic.
In addition, the special architecture of the warehouse will save on space and electricity. Kloosterboer will operate the cold store that will go into service at the beginning of 2010.
Logistics System with Two Main Areas
The new McCain warehouse will have two principal areas. In the back, the storage area will store frozen goods in long, homogenous channels. The storage warehouse will be 100 meters long, 112 meters large and 38 meters high.
The facility's cranes will be equipped with double lift Satellites able to carry industry and Euro palettes weighing up to 1,000 kilograms into channels that are 16 pallets deep. "Other systems would require many more cranes to serve such deep channels," explained Paulus Paulusma, project manager for Westfalia. In addition, the storage area will have a reduced oxygen atmosphere. This guarantees a maximum fire protection.
The front area of the logistics center will be used for picking, distribution and incoming goods. It consists of two levels connected by an elevator. On the ground floor, 12 truck gates and an automated unloading system (Speedloader) will build the interface with transport logistics. This front area will have another AS/RS for route preparation.
More than 700 meters with automated roll and chain conveyors link the two main areas and secure a fast flow of products between production, incoming goods, the storage warehouse, picking zones and the distribution area. Goods to be stored will enter the AS/RS via two ways: from a gate connected to the neighboring production site, or via conveyors located on the ground floor of the distribution area.
Looking for an Economical and Ecological Solution
"The Westfalia Satellite high density warehouse will be an economical and ecological solution for McCain. It really saves on energy and money because less space is required and fewer automated cranes have to be in operation compared to alternative systems," said Jack Kloosterboer, managing partner of Kloosterboer. A Satellite AS/RS needs fewer cranes and aisles than solutions like double-deep warehouses because they have a storage and retrieving capacity up to 16 palettes deep, according to Westfalia.
"Less cranes just consume less energy, and when running the system they produce less heat that the cooling systems would have to cool down again," added Paulusma. "Less aisles also mean less air that has to be cooled down to -24 degrees at all times consuming a lot of electricity." In addition, the high density warehouse has ecological advantages because it substitutes eight regional warehouses and helps McCain to reduce its truck traffic a lot.
Westfalia's Savanna.NET software will be handling the warehouse management of the system, including batch tracing. Savanna.NET manages and controls the flow of goods while respecting both the best-before dates and first in/first out (FIFO) warehouse strategy, according to the solution provider.
"To be able to handle peak demand in the most effective way Savanna.net organizes a continual relocation from the storage warehouse to the distribution warehouse, while considering truck tours too. The output of the system will be up to 250 pallets per hour," said Paulusma.
The Canadian family owned company McCain is the world's top company for frozen potato and finger food products. (McCain produces one of three French fries eaten worldwide.) The company was founded about 50 years ago in Florenceville, New Brunswick, by two brothers. Today, McCain runs sites in more than 110 countries around the world and employs more than 20,000 employees.
The family-owned and -managed company Kloosterboer was founded in 1925. As a logistics service provider, Kloosterboer is a specialist in temperature controlled food-related bulk cargo. The company handles potato and dairy products, fruits, fish, juices and concentrates for a variety of customers. In addition, Kloosterboer handles garlic, frozen food and ambient products.
The company's services include warehousing, stevedoring, forwarding, customs, product insurance, agency, dedicated ICT solutions and barge operation. As a third party logistics provider Kloosterboer also provides outsourcing of entire logistics systems for its customers.
York, Pa.-based Westfalia Technologies provides logistics solutions for plants, warehouses and distribution centers. Their expertise lies in combining software (WMS) development with automated equipment manufacturing to deliver turn-key solutions to meet each client's specific needs.
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