Daifuku provides automated warehousing solution

India's largest selling spice brand, Everest, has set up a new manufacturing unit at Umbergaon in Gujarat. The 50-year-old company manufactures a range of 45 products, both blended and pure spices, for which it requires 60 types of raw materials from different parts of the country.

To cope with the storage problem of perishable material, the company chooses Japan's Daifuku for a complete warehousing solution. Everest has plans to produce 400 tonnes of spices everyday from the new facility and requires storage of 1,200 tonnes of raw material.

"This is going to be the world's biggest factory and it will produce everyday 400 tonnes of spices. The target was to store 400 tonnes of spices and a minimum stoke level of three days. How do we stoke it? And how do you retrieve it was a big challenge. And that is where the automation came into place," said Partner S. NARENDRAKUMAR & Co, Rajiv Shah.

 

The automated storage and retrieval system has 2160 locations in six banks. Each bank can store 30 bags with a maximum weight of 800 kg apiece at each level. The bags are managed by barcodes generated electronically.

The automated storage and retrieval system not only helps to keep the perishable goods stored safely, but helps timely retrieval for manufacturing operations. It has eliminated contamination risk, reduces labour costs and tracks manufacturing data.

Everest, which has robust expansion plans to diversify from a spice company to a food company, is hopeful to get an advantage of warehousing automation.

"There are chances of further expansion within the same area that we have just opened. So, we definitely see a chance or scope of further automation in our warehouses, in our factory. And, we see that very soon we will be sitting across with Daifuku to talk about further automation," added Shah.

The finished goods are also stored in an automated warehouse. A sorting transfer vehicle takes the cartons to an automated storage and retrieval system and places it in a designated bank.

The cartons of finished goods can easily be transported by retrieving from the warehouse by using a simple command.

Daifuku's automated warehousing solution has made life easier and simpler for manufacturers in India. The company is providing warehousing solutions in many countries, including Malaysia.

MOMA provides safe and de-mineralized drinking water from its unit in Sarawak. MOMA water is made with O3+UV sterilization and fully automated germ-free bottling which is uncontaminated by manual handling.

To assist MOMA water in fulfilling its goal of creating the safest and clearest water in its state-of-the-art facilities, DAIFUKU from Japan is handling its automated storage and retrieval system.

"The long-term goal of MOMA is to become an internationally recognized brand, with products available anywhere in the world. With an expanded product range for home and export markets, automation helps us to be more efficient and managing the complexity of processing, storage, and retrieval. DAIFUKU provides fast and accurate material handling and inventory management. And, the DAIFUKU solution is superior to competitive products in the industry in terms of speed, reliability, technical support, and service. Logistics are an important and significant cost in our business and will play an increasingly important role in the future. Our investment in DAIFUKU's system is to future-proof our business," said Marketing Director MOMA water, Kenneth Toh Beng Chuen.

Since 1937, when the company was established, DAIFUKU has focused on material handling.

Now DAIFUKU is an expertise in field of automated storage and retrieval systems and meets the diverse needs in manufacturing and logistics brought on by rapid changes in society.