Information about the company and the project
Krynica Vitamin is a market leader in Central and Eastern Europe in the contracted production of proprietary brand beverages sold under many global brands. The company has five modern production lines and produces about 400 million beverage units per year. It exports its products to over 50 countries, where it cooperates with the biggest retail chains. The company keeps investing in development, innovation and sustainable production. Krynica has invested in new production shops and warehouse halls, equipped with state-of-the-art production lines and warehousing facilities. The investment was aimed at enhancing the quality and efficiency of manufacture and streamlining the logistics of feeding raw materials and components into production lines, as well as at extending the warehouse of finished products. The production section was also fitted with robots that palletize finished products. The company entrusted the management of production processes to the Qguar MES system. Qguar WMS is in charge of warehousing logistics management.
Kamil Kaczorowski – Deputy Production Manager
The contemporary market of food products requires producers to ensure speed, precision and highest quality. Therefore, we focused on automation and an advanced IT system.
Start of production
The process of producing the input to be bottled and canned at a later stage starts with the delivery of raw materials from the warehouse to the mixing section. Qguar MES integrated with Qguar WMS generates material demand orders that results in providing a manufacturing cell with appropriate articles. On the basis of a detailed recipe and proportioning parameters, indispensable ingredients are mixed in the syrup section, in compliance with a high technological regime. During this process, operators report consumption of raw materials by means of operator panels. Then, prepared syrup is transported via a technological pipeline directly to a bottling machine.
Pouring drinks into cans
One of the production machines has the form of a monoblock that cans the input. The process of pouring the input into cans requires efficient synchronization of this stage of production with operations of the packaging units warehouse. In reaction to raw materials demand generated by Qguar MES, Qguar WMS feeds the machine with cans that are loaded with a fork lift truck onto the system of conveyors, and then fed automatically into the machine. A precisely specified amount of a beverage is proportioned into each single can. Then, each can is closed with a hermetic lid. Then, beverages are packed into multipacks and transported via a conveyor system to the palletizing section, wherefrom they are sent to the warehouse. The impressive speed of the line allows the company to flexibly adapt to clients’ needs and market fluctuations. At this level of production efficiency, it is indispensable to ensure advanced integration of the systems that synchronized logistic and manufacturing processes.
Mariusz Zaniewicz – Manager of the Warehouse of Raw Materials and Packaging Units
Modern production is a complex arrangement of devices, processes and data. Therefore, integration of MES and WMS systems is crucial. Thanks to these solutions, we can effectively synchronized warehousing logistics with production and efficiently manage the entire process.
Pouring drinks into PET bottles
The PET line is another fully-automated line in Krynica Vitamin. In this case, the process starts with blow moulding of preforms used to obtain bottles. Then, they are transported to the bottling section, where they are filled with the input material. Finally, they are hermetically closed. Each bottle is subject to control of the filling level and of its closure. Finished articles are packed into multipacks and sent to the line of palletizing robots, wherefrom they are dispatched to the warehouse. Automated lines guarantee high operational efficiency, while the Qguar MES and WMS systems allow us to optimize production and logistic processes and to monitor them.
Kamil Kaczorowski – Deputy Production Manager
Implementation of MES and WMS systems allowed us to acquire complete control over and to optimize production – from raw materials to finished products. We gained higher productivity, error elimination, faster reporting and the possibility of fast reactions to any divergences, which translates to our clients’ satisfaction.
Laboratory
To achieve the highest quality of products, one hast to comply with the highest production standards and to regularly verify this compliance. High quality and compliance with standards are constantly monitored by the laboratory that performs ongoing control of essential parameters. Advanced laboratory tests provide required guarantees of quality for consumers. Products are dispatched to the warehouse only when their verification yields positive results.
Palletizing and internal transport
Production processes end at the section of palletizers that form products arriving from the line into pallets. Before goods are dispatched to the warehouse, a special scanner with an autofocus function for reading a greater distances identifies a pallet on the basis of its code, receives it and introduces into the WMS system. Since this moment, Qguar WMS takes over the management of beverages.
Finished goods warehouse
Each load unit is directed to a warehouse location assigned by Qguar WMS. The WMS system manages logistics of finished products, ensuring control over goods distribution and movements. Operations of beverage storage, picking and loading onto means of transportation are supported with wireless terminals with barcode scanners. Algorithms of the WMS system that are adapted to particular tasks enhance the efficiency of warehouse operations and eliminate errors. In Krynica Vitamin, the same Qguar WMS supervises warehouses of both raw materials and finished products and it integrates with the Qguar MES system at specific points of production processes. It was possible to efficiently integrate the software thanks to close cooperation of all the parties involved in the project. Close cooperation with the Quantum company allowed the solutions to be adapted to the specific needs of the facility and to rationalize its processes.
Paweł Pietruk – WMS system specialist
The Quantum company demonstrated high commitment, knowledge and experience in the domain of integrating our warehousing and production processes. We appreciate their flexibility, support on site and ability to continuously extend the system to adapt it to our individual needs.
Technologies in the food industry
In the food industry, advanced technologies constitute the foundation of production quality and efficiency, while increasing market requirements force the industrial branch to develop continuously. Continuous systems improvement and automation are a must that guarantees competitive advantage.
Paweł Pietruk – WMS system specialist
We believe that future of our industry will bring even more intense use of technology. Therefore, we do not allow ourselves not to keep pace.
Mariusz Zaniewicz – Manager of the Warehouse of Raw Materials and Packaging Units
Thanks to state-of-the-art technologies, we are able to meet growing demands of our clients and maintain the leading position within the industrial branch.
Kamil Kaczorowski – Deputy Production Manager
We would like to be the symbol of quality and high development. Therefore, we are planning further investments in advanced IT solutions, supported by proven partners.
Krynica Vitamin is an example of a company backed up by professionalism, perseverance in the pursuit of the highest quality and by the intent of continuous development, based on new technologies. We are happy to be able to support pursuit of such ambitious goals.