Pesmel’s fully automated high-bay warehouse solution helps Saica Group serve their customers better whilst reducing the company’s delivery times and carbon footprint.
Saica (S.A. Industrias Celulosa Aragonesa) wanted to improve their current supply chain model at their El Burgo de Ebro corrugated board mill to enable new supply chain models based on stock – such as Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) and Made to Stock (MTS) – instead of Made to Order (MTO).
Changing from MTO to MTS, where manufacturing is driven by demand, establishes stock levels according to consumption forecasts. It also goes against current market trends. Made To Stock gives an integrated, proactive supply chain that is totally geared towards meeting the needs of the customer. The Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) differs from traditional MTO in that here, Saica is responsible for managing inventory levels for their customers, and the products are already available for order when required.
New automatic warehouse allows Saica to react faster to changes in the market and customer demands.
Saica says that their new automatic warehouse allows them to react faster to changes in the market and customer demands, while delivering multiple products rapidly and accurately. Roll storage capacity has been increased, and truck waiting and loading times has reduced from hours to minutes. This allows efficient logistics flows.
“In general paper mill warehouse needs can be very corporate and mill specific,” says Kaj Fahllund, head of sales at Pesmel. “Therefore, you have to be able to listen and understand your customers’ needs and expectations so that you are able to develop solutions that match their exact needs. We managed to do that here with Saica,” he continues.
Material handling transformation
Pesmel’s Material Flow How® concept helped Saica achieve their goals. Pesmel supplied the international paper group with a tailormade, integrated and fully automated TransRoll™ high-bay warehouse solution, which includes connecting conveyors from the production lines, and a dispatching area with outfeed conveyor system.
This two-phase project was designed to meet two key objectives: firstly improving customer satisfaction with bettered On Time in Full (OTIF) deliveries, shorter lead times – from an average of 12 to two days, and better product quality, and secondly improving the supply chain model introduced above. The warehouse was built in two phases to avoid interrupting full scale ongoing on-site production.
With the same footprint, a high-bay warehouse has a capacity six times that of a manual one.
With the same footprint, a high-bay warehouse has a capacity six times that of a manual one. Saica’s old warehouse stored some 35,000 metric tons of paper. The new high-bay warehouse, one of the largest in its sector, is 36 meters high and stores 65,000 metric tons. The warehouse is able to handle 4,000 different SKUs of different paper grades, grammages, diameters, and widths. Pesmel’s Kaj Fahllund comments that “this project was neither a rebuild nor an add-on, but a fully-fledged transformation. It was the key change that enabled the targeted supply chain model change.”
With 75 different paper grades, three paper machines, and one off-machine coater, Saica produces white, brown, and coated paper. Grade changes are done normally once-a-day. “Now, we have an integrated, proactive supply chain that is totally geared towards meeting the needs of the customer,” remarks Juan Antonio Meler Conesa, Saica Group’s Deputy Industrial Projects Director.
Comprehensive automated warehouse management system
The El Burgo De Ebro Mill produces some 1.3 million metric tons of container board rolls for packaging. The rolls come into the warehouse from the production lines on slat conveyors. Barcode readers identify all the rolls to measure and verify their dimensions and standard before they are forwarded to the storage area. Four sorting cars, which classify rolls according to product references, transfer these to four stacker cranes. The cranes then transport and place the rolls horizontally into their designated deep storage lanes.
Pesmel’s proprietary Warehouse Management System (WMS) software controls all processes, checking roll standards, as well as keeping an inventory of stock and location. The WMS also manages three sorting cars and operations when it comes to sending rolls to the loading bay for delivery to customers. Saica’s warehouse has several out-feed lanes, meaning that multiple orders can be prepared at the same time. Product quality is part of the solution. Gentle automated handling of rolls eliminates damage to products – which can cost between 0.5 and 2 percent of the annual expense of items in a traditional warehouse environment.
Logistics savings and safety improvements
Automation ensures that products are delivered in the right order and at the right time, saving on logistics. Loads are prepared out of the warehouse within 20 minutes after trucks arrive at the mill gate, which eliminates unnecessary waiting time.
Some 250 trucks come to the mill in random order to pick up and load consignments each day. The number of SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) per truck has been augmented from two, to between five and six to increase the supply chain efficiency. Consignments scheduled for the next day can be prepared at night if needed, with the required number of trucks ordered accordingly. This reduces trucks’ loading times significantly.
“The entire concept is about how to get the orders into the trucks in the right order,” says Pesmel’s Kaj Fahllund. “Orders of 10 to 20 rolls are loaded onto the right out-take conveyors at the truck loading area and match the right truck with the right loading dock.” A forklift truck loads paper rolls into the truck in the loading area. Digital displays inform both the truck and forklift driver about which of the 12 shipping docks has the products that are waiting to be loaded.
As safety is in focus, Saica designed the truck shipping area specifically to ensure a zero-accident zone for the drivers during loading operations. This zone separates the truck drivers from forklift trucks to prevent them colliding in the same space. “For absolute safety the forklift traffic can be minimized to the shortest possible pick-turn-load sequence within a human-restricted area,” Fahllund explains.”
Big steps on the path to sustainable development
Saica is implementing industrial modernisation programmes to meet objectives set out in number nine of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This goal stands for building resilient infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization and fostering innovation.
Pesmel’s automated warehouse solution aligns with Saica’s heavy focus on sustainable industrialization, helping Saica on their journey towards decarbonization and energy efficiency. To demonstrate this, the El Burgo de Ebro mill was able to reduce diesel oil fuel consumption, resulting in savings of some 1,800 metric tons of CO2.
Saica was able to save 1,800 metric tons of CO2 by reducing diesel oil fuel consumption.
The centralized storage reduces the need for external logistics related to warehousing outside the mill, including extra truck and forklift truck traffic. The 100 percent-electric stacker cranes, which can move up to 320 rolls per hour, generate energy when performing descent and braking manoeuvres. This is fed back into the grid.
Saica is committed to sustainable development. Water used in production taken from the nearby Ebro River is cleaned before being returned to its source. In addition, the mill uses recycled paper and cardboard waste for production instead of virgin fiber. “We use energy from whatever is not paper and are becoming efficient in all our processes, including energy and machines,” explains Juan Antonio Meler Conesa at Saica.
“The best experience of automation”
Pesmel won the contract with Saica because they understood what they were looking for. “We felt comfortable with the solution that Pesmel was offering,” Meler Conesa comments. “Pesmel has the best experience of warehouses and warehouse management systems, automation, design, and functionality. The others didn’t offer this.”
Saica is looking to expand, providing that the El Burgo de Ebro mill works for them as a proof of concept and that they meet their targets. Saica’s 2025 vision is for increased customer retention and for new ones. They are considering solutions for an additional mill, making additional types of products in Europe, and have also started producing corrugated packaging in Ohio State’s Hamilton City in the U.S.
“We want to expand through sustainable growth in both production and footprint and are continuing our decarbonizing industry journey as a well-respected company making sustainable products, especially in the packaging sector,” concludes Juan Antonio Meler Conesa.
Contact person
Kaj Fahllund
+358 20 7009 626
kaj.fahllund@pesmel.com