Nestlé USA announced a major expansion of its plant last September and the addition of a seventh production line which will move into commercial production this year.
The $72m investment was chosen to increase production capacity for Boost Complete Nutritional Drink and Carnation Breakfast Essentials Drink as part of the line of beverages produced in Anderson.
Cost effective
Steve Hoffman, technical specialist, Dematic, said Nestlé’s warehouse storage system includes eight 110 feet tall 4000 lb. unit load storage and retrieval machines (SRMs) capable of handling over 160 loads in and 160 loads out of the ASRS per hour.
The machines are manufactured by Dematic in Salt Lake City, Utah.
“Several storage alternatives were considered for the 60,000 pallet position warehouse. Automation was the most cost effective solution and it offered savings in operational costs with a 35% reduction in labor,” he said.
Dematic’s Equipment Management System (EMS) interfaces with Nestlé’s Warehouse Management System (WMS) to process all receipts, order requests, and inventory management.
“Located 30 feet below grade, the eight-aisle storage system is 15 tiers tall and 84 bays long, housing 59,628 storage locations,” added Hoffman.
“The system accommodates load sizes up to 72" tall weighing 2,500 lbs. A pick tunnel between the first two aisles provides case picking for up to 150 inventory items.
“Dematic's scope of work included full general construction of the 110 feet tall, 120,000 sq. foot rack supported ASRS together with site work, foundations, siding and roofing systems and fire protection.”
Coffee-Mate and Nesquik
A pallet conveyor system moves palletized loads from manufacturing to the ASRS and from the ASRS to shipping.
Nestlé opened its Anderson plant in 2009, it produces Coffee-Mate non-dairy creamer and Nesquik.
It also serves as a storage and distribution center for other refrigerated Nestlé products, including Nestlé Toll House Refrigerated Cookie Dough and Buitoni pastas.
The plant employs more than 700 people in logistics, packaging, process engineering, engineering and controls to automation engineering.
Put Wall System
Dematic recently announced the launch of its Put Wall System, a goods-to-person workstation for piece picking applications.
A typical Put Wall System has multiple workstations and often uses a conveyor to deliver containers of preselected SKUs, usually in plastic totes, into the Put Wall module.
The workstation is made up of a wall of shelving with individual compartments or ‘cubbies’ that hold one customer order each.
The compartments can be configured in different sizes to support multiple order volumes.
"The Put Wall System combines order lines from multiple orders and creates high density, efficient picking throughout the warehouse,” added Hoffman.
“The Put Wall modules are used to consolidate and pack the items for each individual order."
Dematic is exhibiting its Put Wall at MODEX from March 17–20 at the Georgia Convention Center.