In Chester County, South Carolina, USA, Pesmel’s high-bay ASRS automated warehouse solution have been employed in a new glass mat roll production plant by pioneering global roofing company IKO.
Based in Toronto, Canada, and with manufacturing plants around the world, IKO is a leading global supplier of asphalt shingles and other products for the construction industry. Fiberglass mat is a key component of shingle manufacturing. To support their targets in the North American market, in Spring 2025 IKO will inaugurate a new state-of-the-art greenfield glass mat roll production plant.
Banishing supply chain bottlenecks with ASRS
“This is our first wholly owned glass and glass mat facility in South Carolina and is an important element of our North American operations,” says Dan Nobbe, Director, Glass Mat Operations at IKO. The new facility covers 275,000 ft2 and includes a 95,000 ft2and 12,000+ roll integrated automated high-bay warehouse delivered by Pesmel.
With a typical 96” diameter, glass mat rolls are unwieldy to move and store. In traditional glass mat roll warehousing, these large rolls are handled by their core using pole trucks. They are placed on the floor horizontally on top of each other in two or three level roll pyramids. This is inefficient, time- and space-consuming and presents safety issues. This system has forced glass mat producers in many cases to split their supply chain around a network of multiple warehouses.
“You can store four times more rolls in the same area compared to traditional manual warehousing and have fully automated on-line data integration with your plant ERP systems.”
Dan Nobbe, Director, Glass Mat Operations at IKO
“When we first heard of Pesmel’s automated warehouse, we were amazed how space effective these fully automated processes can be with these big glass mat rolls,” Nobbe continues. “You can store four times more rolls in the same area compared to traditional manual warehousing and have fully automated on-line data integration with your plant ERP systems. We understood that we could centralize and automate the whole inventory right after the production. This will significantly simplify and speed up our supply chain and save costs accordingly in this highly seasonal business.”
For Pesmel, the project is important in continuing the company’s growth in North America. Samu Rantala, General Manager of Pesmel North America, points out that this solution is evidence of growing interest in improving supply chain efficiency. “This is something of a notable milestone in the construction industry segment,” he says. “We will continue to see interest in our automated solutions as our customers work to save costs and expand their business potential.”
Proven technology fitted for need
The whole roll flow from slitter winder to truck loading is provide by Pesmel. The intake conveyor line includes stretch wrapping to protect and label rolls for the supply chain needs. In the ASRS warehouse the stacker crane is the only moving element used to move rolls in, store them on 11 levels of storing channels, and outload according to orders either to the coating machine, redrawing, or the truck loading. At the truck loading area the ASRS outfeeds rolls to the front of the truck loading docks, where pole trucks can pick and load them within the limited loading zone.
Pesmel’s TransRoll™ ASRS is a proven solution in many projects around the world and has been shown to be very efficient in handling large diameter rolls of different materials. In the IKO project, the production line and warehouse were planned and constructed alongside each other with careful consideration to material flow through the warehouse.
The ability to provide customized solutions that are validated through simulation is key to Pesmel’s offering. “Pesmel’s convincing references and their capability to provide bespoke solutions were the two main reasons we chose them for Chester,” Nobbe concludes. “We have enjoyed working with their experts, who have reacted quickly to changes, listened well, and really understood our needs.”
For more information, please contact:
Kaj Fahllund
tel. 020 7009 626
email: kaj.fahllund@pesmel.com