Good retrofit recipe for Almi

(Marchtrenk, Austria, September 27, 2022) Almi, the spice specialist based mostly within the Higher Austria area, commissioned TGW Logistics Group to replace its warehouse in Oftering. The TGW consultants applied the undertaking throughout ongoing operations and in file time, regardless of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Everybody’s acquired to eat! For Almi, a producer of spice blends, this proverb is a blessing and a curse. It is a blessing as a result of the corporate, who is targeted strategically on diversification and internationalization, has skilled fixed progress since its founding in 1931. From dilettante to devoted, gourmets at each stage in 62 international locations get pleasure from meals seasoned with high-quality Almi merchandise. The Higher Austrian firm earns roughly $128 million USD in gross sales per yr, with nearly 90 p.c of their merchandise being exported.

RETROFIT DURING LIVE OPERATION

Nonetheless, success within the meals trade has its value. As a result of prospects get hungry even on holidays, in contrast to different industries, Almi can’t afford prolonged breaks in manufacturing. This poses main time administration challenges for larger-scale development or modernization initiatives.

Early on, the family-owned enterprise dominated out increasing its amenities: “Sustainability is of nice significance to Almi. We don’t need to pave over extra inexperienced areas, so we determined from the start to optimize the present facility so that we’ll be nicely outfitted for the long run,” reviews Stefan Lackinger, Almi’s Manufacturing Supervisor. To be able to uphold supply commitments and lay the inspiration for future progress, Almi as an alternative opted for a retrofit of the automated tote warehouse and its roughly 10,000 storage areas.

In 2006, Almi constructed a warehouse on a parcel of roughly 92,000 ft2, with the contract going to TGW. The guts of the preliminary system is a three-aisle, computerized mini-load warehouse; tote buffer; and carton, tote, and pallet conveyor programs on three ranges. To spice up the efficiency, the system was outfitted with energy-efficient conveyor expertise. In 2017, the seasoning specialist commissioned TGW to replace the warehouse administration system (WMS).

TOGETHER INTO A GREEN FUTURE

Almi was very happy with how the software program replace went, and consequently, Almi chosen TGW as a associate of selection to hitch it on the trail in direction of a inexperienced future. The preliminary dialogue got here from TGW’s retrofit consultants, who introduced a multi-prong idea after noticing that Almi’s elements have been outdated: altering out a storage and retrieval machine, changing the mechatronics of the Commissioner lifting beam system, updating three switch carriages and one belt-driven elevate, and implementing new management expertise.

TGW supplied proactive solutions as a result of there was a hazard that if the present expertise broke down, it will develop into costlier to restore or not have the right elements accessible in any respect. TGW put collectively a number of designs, from which Almi chosen one. “Within the retrofit space, every undertaking is customer-specific— due to this fact, expertise is of large significance,” emphasizes Josef Fritz, Gross sales Mission Supervisor at TGW.

MUSTANG E+ ENERGY-EFFICIENT STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL MACHINES

A portion of the funding, which was within the mid-six figures, was designated to changing the storage and retrieval machine. TGW offered a Mustang E+ storage and retrieval machine of the most recent era. Its benefits: it weighs lower than older items and has a state-of-the-art management system that doesn’t require anti-oscillation expertise, making it attainable to save lots of power.

The world of retrofitting is, in principle, just like good meals: even the perfect recipe could not end up so scrumptious if the prepare dinner is inexperienced. TGW seems to be again on greater than half a century of expertise, with the retrofit space particularly experiencing sturdy progress. The system integrator now handles 5 instances as many retrofit initiatives yearly because it did ten years in the past— and works systematically for every undertaking, as a result of, as Markus Kammerhofer, Director of Gross sales Retrofit at TGW emphasizes, “A system downtime could be a catastrophe for any provide chain supervisor.”

PLANNING AND PREPARATION AS KEY FACTORS

The primary assembly was held in early 2021, whereas in the summertime, the crew drafted a undertaking plan, with the practical specs following. The consultants then outlined the migration steps and the tight schedule. The timeline set the bar excessive for all these concerned. The target: executing the complete undertaking across the Christmas and New 12 months’s holidays to cut back the standstill to a minimal.

The TGW specialists arrived on December 21 and stayed at Almi till January 7, 2022, working each day besides New 12 months’s Eve. Nonetheless, the tight schedule was not the one problem. “All steps as much as the go-live on January 7 needed to be deliberate intimately,” says Fritz. Nonetheless, it was not attainable to completely full the undertaking by January 6 because the plan had initially referred to as for. Nonetheless, this was not the fault of TGW. On account of the COVID-19 pandemic and worldwide provide chain bottlenecks, the {hardware} was not changed till April.

ENERGY SAVINGS

Regardless of the difficulties encountered, all elements of the retrofit have been efficiently accomplished in late April 2022. Lackinger, the Almi Manufacturing Supervisor, is extremely happy with the end result. He reviews that the system availability is boosted and the price of spare elements for upkeep work has been lowered. The corporate’s inexperienced logistics technique can be taking an essential step ahead, with ISO 50002 power audit compliance being only one instance. “Vitality financial savings of as much as 20 p.c at the moment are attainable with warehouse automation. Previously, unneeded braking power of the storage and retrieval machine was merely misplaced. Now we feed it straight again into the grid. Due to the modernization achieved by our associate TGW, we glance to a greener future with confidence.”

https://www.tgw-group.com/us/information/press-releases/2022/perfect-retrofit-recipe-for-almi