Towards a new warehousing concept

Oy Hartwall Oy has centralized its warehousing. Technological development has opened up an entirely new concept in warehousing. The robotized order picking system delivered by Cimcorp Oy to Hartwall’s logistics centre in Lahdenhovi is now a seamless element of the more efficient inventory management there.

Oy Hartwall Ab - a listed company - concentrates purely on beverages. Its products cover a range of soft drinks, mineral waters and beers. Hartwall produces around 450 million litres annually and commands some 54 % of the market in Finland. It has production facilities in Helsinki, Lahti and Tornio, as well as logistics depots in Helsinki, Lahdenhovi in Lahti, Oulu and, temporarily, in Kaarina.

The Lahdenhovi logistics centre is the largest and newest. Around 45 % of Finnish deliveries are routed through it. Lahdenhovi is just outside the city of Lahti and distinctly separate to the production facility located in the centre of the city.


Lahdenhovi is the largest and newest logistics centre

“We started here in autumn 1993 and the latest investments came on line at the start of this year when the new dispatching department and high-bay warehouse were completed. The high-bay warehouse now has space for 22,800 pallets. The grounds were extended at the same time, and most of the empty crates and bottles are stored there,” reports Eino Lemmetty, area manager for Central Finland.

Investments were made in mechanized order picking, too.

“An essential element in the overall set-up is the order picking system based on gantry robot technology supplied by Cimcorp, complete with the operating software. We are also using picking technology that we purchased earlier. Some order picking is still done manually. The proportion of manual picking varies to some extent, depending on the season and the customer, but overall it is usually in the region of 30-40 %. Cimcorp’s order picking system handles the floor storage under the gantry robot. Cimcorp’s system is integrated with the overhead conveyor system supplied by Oy Algol Ab,” explains Eino Lemmetty.

“Lahdenhovi distributes all Hartwall’s products. In practice that means more than 200 items - and there are almost as many case sizes. Naturally, therefore, mechanization is only used for the largest volumes. Here at Lahdenhovi, around 20 % of the items we stock account for 80 % of total volume,” Lemmetty states.

Robots handle 34 different products, which are distributed in six different types of crate. The robots are at their best with plastic crates. Eino Lemmetty reckons that the number of types and sizes of packages will increase rather than decrease in the future.

New technology opens up a new warehousing concept

During the 1990s, Hartwall has substantially re-thought its logistics policy.

“We have amalgamated small storage depots. At the start of this decade we had about 63 different depots around Finland, and nowadays we have only five - including the depot on the Åland Islands. New technology has enabled us to develop our depots. Automation is only worthwhile, though, when volumes are high enough,” Eino Lemmetty emphasizes.

A distinct change has occurred in the whole concept of warehousing. According to Lemmetty, logistics development is increasing being driven by an emphasis on overall economy. Storage times are shorter, and the transportation of ready-sold goods is on the rise.

Likewise, transfers between warehouses are on the decline and the general rhythm of transport is brisker. The business is tailored to customer orders. Consequently, transport distances in distributing to customers are lengthening because there is no intermediate storage.

“Sales of our products fluctuate with the season, and seasonal pressures focus mostly on distribution since production cannot be designed for peak sales. Peaks in deliveries occur, naturally, when the weather is hot and during the holiday period.”


Robotized picking system fully meets expectations

Test runs of Cimcorp’s order picking system were held in February.

“The spring has been mainly devoted to trimming software programs and fine-tuning robotic picking to function with the higher-level software of the logistics centre. This was in no way a ‘plug and play’ solution - a lot of work went into tailoring the programs.”

According to Lemmetty, there were no problems with the ‘hardcore technology’ - everything worked as it should.

“The robot itself is extremely precise. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the 15 million plastic crates with which it works. We are now into the sixth month and we are still of the opinion that the gantry robot’s operating principle is smart.”

Lemmetty believes the stacker gripper of the robot is eminently suitable for handling individual crates, picking and combining. When 34 different products are spread around the picking area, it is certainly sensible to do the picking from above.

“Cimcorp’s gantry robot solution has met all our expectations. We aren’t out of the woods quite yet, but with a system of this size we didn’t expect to be. We are not talking about just a machine, but managing a very large configuration,” emphasizes Eino Lemmetty from Oy Hartwall Ab.


Juhani Lukka

- Lahdenhovi is Hartwall’s largest logistics centre - The gross floor area of the building is almost 30,000 m2 - The warehouse has space for 1.3 million crates of bottles. If the crates were stacked one on top of another, the height of the pile would be about 286 km. If placed in a row, the line would stretch for about 570 km. - The logistics centre can send out 250,000 cases of drinks a day - equivalent to 125 truckloads.

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