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Automated FSW from viastore ensures higher energy efficiency and process reliability for Myronivsky Hliboproduct

02.06.2014

On Growth Course with Modern Intralogistics

High product quality combined with low production costs and intensive CAPEX – this is the recipe for the success of agricultural company Myronivsky Hliboproduct (MHP), based in the Ukraine and the country’s largest poultry producer. In the context of a growth strategy, MHP decided to build a new automated frozen storage warehouse. This was expected to comply with the European requirements for an uninterrupted cooling chain, whilst offering a high level of energy efficiency and thus low operating costs at the same time. MHP contacted viastore systems, an international intralogistics systems integrator, for support.

Anyone going through a supermarket in Ukraine will almost certainly encounter products from Myronivsky Hliboproduct. Headquartered in Kiev, MHP is one of the largest industrial agricultural undertakings in the country, having a comprehensive network of farms, processing plants and distribution centers. Around 30,000 employees generated a turnover of more than $1.4 billion in 2013. The MHP portfolio includes cereals, sunflower oil, fresh and frozen beef products, as well as milk and fruit.

The company’s core business is poultry: In 2013, Myronivsky Hliboproduct achieved sales of about $1 billion with chicken meat alone. This corresponds to a volume of around 475,000 tons of poultry – over 50 percent of the overall Ukrainian chicken production. MHP covers the entire value-added chain – from the cultivation of land and production of grains and fodder to breeding, hatchering and broiler farms, and on further to slaughterhouses, cold storage facilities and distribution centers. The poultry is processed into food products in MHP’s own plants and eventually sold chilled or frozen to licensed dealers and supermarkets. For delivery, the company operates a fleet of around 500 trucks.

The goal is to expand into Western European markets

In the Ukraine, MHP is already the undisputed market leader. In addition, in 2013 the Group exported about 25 percent of its poultry to the CIS, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. The company has grown rapidly in recent years and, since 2013, is opening up the Western European markets. »We’re already one of the largest poultry producers in Europe,« said Anastasiya Sobotyuk, Head of Investor Relations at MHP. »So it is only logical for us to offer our goods to customers in Western Europe too.« However, this means that MHP must meet all quality standards specified for the EU and other western European countries. »We take painstaking care that all our processing and storage facilities fulfill the most stringent requirements,« says Ms. Sobotyuk.

One of the key requirements for producers of chilled and frozen food products is to have an uninterrupted cooling chain. Only in this way is it possible to guarantee consistently high product quality. MHP therefore decided to build a new, state-of-the-art frozen storage warehouse at the Vinnytsia Poultry Complex (Ladyzhyn, Vinnytsia region) in order to meet the high European standards. But other factors also played a major role and were taken into account during the planning stage, according to Sergei Ivanov, Director of engineering and planning company in MHP: »We were looking not only for an efficient solution with regard to a continuous cooling chain. The new warehouse also had to make optimum use of the available space and contribute to keeping manufacturing costs low.« MHP found viastore systems to be a competent partner for the project. For 40 years, the Stuttgart/Germany-based company has been counted among the leading international providers of turnkey intralogistics systems for trade and industry and has extensive experience in the planning and implementation of frozen storage systems.

MHP was particularly impressed by the high level of advisory competence of the intralogistics specialists from Swabia: »viastore supported us in all matters of the project, starting with an initial feasibility analysis all the way through to commissioning – and even beyond,« says Ivanov, praising the close collaboration. This began with a joint consultation phase, during which the internationally experienced specialists in deep-freeze storage submitted various proposals for project implementation. Following discussions with viastore, the people in charge at MHP quickly came to the conclusion that only an automated warehouse would be up to this task.

High storage density provides higher energy efficiency

MHP finally opted for a three-aisle automated warehouse with multi-deep storage, as this would use the available space in the best possible way. »Such a system enables particularly high storage density to be achieved,” explains Frank Heptner, specialist in freezer warehouses at viastore. “This means that it requires less space and is therefore particularly energy-efficient.« Energy costs are a central cost factor in frozen storage systems; after all, they must maintain the required temperature throughout the year. To use the energy as efficiently as possible, cooling losses must be as low as possible. »This is best achieved by keeping the base area of the system down to a minimum,” says the viastore expert. “After all, the greatest amount of cold is lost through the roof and the smaller the warehouse’s surface area, the smaller the roof.«

Here automated warehouses offer a clear advantage: While the rack height is limited to a maximum of 12 to 14 meters in manually operated storage systems due to the lift height of forklift trucks, automated high-bay systems make much more effective use of the existing space. With an overall height of 20 meters and an area of ​​68 x 55 meters, MHP’s new three-aisle frozen storage system features nine levels and offers space for a total of 20,300 pallets. Servicing of the racks is done by three viapal storage/retrieval machines (SRM). These machines are equipped with shuttles for multi-deep storage. Up to nine pallets can thus be stored one behind the other in each of the storage channels in an extremely space-saving manner.

After processing, the chicken meat is initially shock-frozen and then packed into boxes and placed on pallets. These are positioned on the automatic conveyor system by forklift trucks and forwarded to the warehouse. There one of the three SRMs takes over, and finally a shuttle transports the pallets with the goods from the SRM to the storage channel. Retrieval and transport to the distribution center is similar – here the palletized goods are loaded onto trucks for shipment to the supermarkets. The viad@t warehouse management system (WMS) manages and controls the entire process fully automatically. »This has several advantages,« explains viastore specialist Heptner: »Every pallet can be identified and tracked at all times. In this way we can ensure that each product is at the right place at the right time – from goods receiving, storage and order picking all the way through to shipping.« viad@t monitors, for instance, the temperatures and expiry dates of the individual pallets to ensure consistently high product quality. If, for example, a pallet in the picking zone has remained unmoved for too long, it is automatically returned to the system before the cooling is interrupted.

Sources of error eliminated, burden on employees relieved

Sergei Ivanov is thrilled with the automated solution: »Its process reliability and efficiency are impressive,« he emphasizes. In manually operated warehouses errors occurred time and time again: Sometimes a product forgotten on the rack, sometimes the expiry date was not read correctly, or sometimes a pallet ended up in the wrong place. With viad@t, such problems are now a thing of the past. Another advantage is: »Since all the storage and transport processes take place fully automatically, no one has to work in the deep-freeze area. This makes their working conditions a great deal more pleasant.«

Thanks to thorough planning and preparation by viastore, the construction time for the entire project took merely 175 days. The result is a success for everybody involved. »Compared with conventional frozen storage systems, this warehouse consumes around 30 percent less energy,« says Frank Heptner. »This not only means lower production costs for MHP, but it also ensures a good environmental balance. And due to the high level of process reliability, MHP is well equipped for further growth.«



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