Information about the company and the project
Frigo Logistics is a logistic operator of products that require controlled temperature. In its eight branches all over Poland, it offers comprehensive solutions in the domain of storage, picking, re-packaging and distribution. Frigo Logistics is the central warehouse for 6 commercial networks and cooperates with over 90 producers. Today, we are heading out with our camera to a company in Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki. It is here that Frigo realizes its new investment project: a fully automated high-bay cold storage warehouse, operating at the temperatures of down to 25 degrees Celsius below zero.
The built high-bay warehouse offers 15,000 pallet spaces on 12 stacking levels, serviced by 6 stacker cranes. The manually-operated warehouse with the capacity of 5,000 pallet spaces is fitted with movable and classic racks. Additionally, it has been fitted with a system of gravity roller conveyors and automatic trucks, as well as the Voice Picking technology, that support picking processes. Logistic processes in the new centre are managed by the Qguar WMS system (delivered by the Quantum company) that has been integrated with the Easy WMS that manages the automatic part supplied by the Mecalux company.
Rafał Kowganko – Regional Director
Frozen goods are characterized by highly specific requirements concerning their production, transport and storage. They include primarily temperature-related requirements that translate into maintaining constant temperature within the range from 18 to 22 degrees below zero at each stage of the process. Here one faces the need for short reaction times, as any deviation from the specified temperatures may lead to loss of goods quality or their destruction.
Delivery to warehouse
Goods are delivered to the warehouse with vehicles allowing for strict control of transportation temperature. Then, they are shifted with forklift trucks to one of the two storage areas. The majority of pallets, upon verification of physical and system parameters at the control gate, are directed to the automatic high-bay part, with which Qguar WMS exchanges information via the SSCC code. The remaining pallets are transported to the movable racks area. Qguar WMS will feed picking zones from both of these areas, while allowing for process conditions and clients’ requirements.
Rafał Kowganko – Regional Director
As far as IT systems are concerned, their role is crucial in ensuring efficiency, safety and compliance of the processes related to frozen goods. Here we focus on continuous improvement of processes and the WMS and we invest in automation of warehousing processes. Implementation of automated solutions and the WMS allows us primarily to plan orders more efficiently, to streamline the management of picking processes, to supervise more efficiently the ongoing process in real time and to generate more precise reports on specified periods of time.
Gravity conveyors
The Frigo facility has been fitted with a system of thirty two dynamically reconfigurable gravity roller conveyors that handle pallets released from the automatic warehouse. Pallets from these conveyors can be transported to the picking locations in manually-operated racks or they may be fed into the picking process directly from a given chute. Reassignment of chute purpose is managed by Qguar WMS in real time, while operators’ activities are aided with mobile terminals.
Picking
Goods to be shipped are taken from the automatic and the manually-operated part and they may include homogenous pallets and mixed pallets consolidated in the picking process. The pallets from the automatic warehouse are released directly onto the gravity roller conveyors located by the loading docks. The process of consolidation by picking is realized in the manually-operated part of the warehouse, where operators equipped with Voice Picking terminals pick goods according to voice specification issued by the system. The Voice Picking system managed by Qguar WMS increases considerably the efficiency of the picking process. This is also the ideal solution for so demanding thermal conditions. The picked pallets are transported with trucks to the intermediate storage areas specified by the WMS system and located by loading gates. By synchronizing many parallel stages of the picking process in real time, Qguar WMS reduces the order realization cycle, which translates into tangible business profits for Frigo Logistics.
Rafał Kowganko – Regional Director
The main advantages we have managed to gain include primarily the short time of order realization, ability to meet our clients’ expectations, reduction of errors, shorter time of employee training, comfort of work and clients’ increased trust in the Frigo company.
Process automation and customisation
Automation of warehousing processes has become indispensable. The more demanding work conditions, the more justified an investment in advanced technologies. However, in the domain of automatic solutions, it is also ideal matching of tools with business processes that determines the actual level of competitive advantage. Repeatable compliance with client’s requirements is the objective that requires design and implementation of exceptionally precise solutions. Thanks to efficient architecture and state-of-the-art algorithms, Qguar WMS supports specific processes in an ergonomic way, in compliance with the requirements of Frigo.
Rafał Kowganko – Regional Director
It important for a software supplier to be able to efficiently adapt his system to clients’ needs. In our case, when implementing Qguar WMS, we took advantage of the possibility of individual system adaptations. In our assessment, our cooperation with the system supplier has reached an exceptionally high level.
Loading the semi-trailer
Homogenous pallets and pallets consolidated by picking meet in the loading docks area, where they wait for transport vehicles to arrive. The sequential order of pallets discharged from the automatic warehouse onto gravity roller conveyors is also controlled by the WMS system in such a way, as to match the order of unloading on the route. Ready-to-ship pallets are transported with forklift trucks into arriving transport vehicles. Truck operators equipped with mobile terminals register the operation of loading onto a semi-trailer, which is equivalent to confirmation of goods issuing from the warehouse in the Qguar WMS system.
The future of frozen goods logistics
The logistics of frozen goods is largely viewed through the prism of strictly controlled temperature. However, as in other lines of trade, one should not forget that new technologies are the key to the future.
Rafał Kowganko – Regional Director
The future of frozen articles lies primarily in the continuous commitment to quality and fast deliveries. Increasingly more variegated tastes and more numerous atypical needs of clients will require multiple additional logistic services and efficient IT systems. We, the Frigo company, constantly keep verifying all market novelties and keep an eye on advanced solutions in the IT domain, and we do so in the best interest of our clients.
Summary
The automatic warehouse of Frigo Logistics in Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki translates into fulfilment of the needs of the most demanding clients and commitment to the quality of work of our team. It is also an unquestionable proof that Frigo plays the role of the leader of innovation in the business of frozen goods. Having cooperated with Frigo for several decades, Quantum is proud to be able to support the development of this company with our Qguar systems.