Frozen rolls without the fear of heights

At the Malopole site near Warsaw, Inter Europol Piekarnia Szwajcarska, one of the leading large bakeries in Poland, has put a new production and storage complex into operation. SSI Schaefer was awarded the contract for the high-bay warehouse for frozen products, which is directly connected to the production facility, following an international tender. "Due to the continuously increasing demand, we were no longer able to meet the demand with the existing production and storage capacities," explains Rüdiger Stollmeier, Project Manager at Inter Europol. "However, all options for expansion had already been exhausted at the company's traditional location. We therefore had to set up the new site for production and logistics."

"Due to the difficult working environment at -25 °C for the employees, the decision was made to implement full automation." Rüdiger Stollmeier, Project Manager Inter Europol

Inter Europol is the first modern wholesale bakery on the Polish market with Swiss roots, offering a wide range of traditional Swiss, French, Danish and Polish bakery products. Founded in 1989, the company's wide range of baked goods extends from fresh products to products with an extended shelf life, such as frozen products for baking. The manufacturer supplies wholesale markets and supermarkets, hotels, restaurants, petrol stations and affiliated sales outlets.

"To ensure availability when used in Inter Europol's deep-freeze warehouse, the Exyz are made entirely from deep-freeze-compatible materials and equipped with heated control cabinets and deep-freeze-compatible touch panels for possible semi-automatic operation." Peter Diener, SSI Schaefer Project Manager

In May 2014, Inter Europol put the new fully automated high-bay warehouse into operation. Up to 60 trucks with around 2,000 pallets of baked goods leave the premises every day. Picture: SSI Schäfer

Using state-of-the-art production technologies, the industrial bakery produces around the clock, seven days a week. Up to 60 trucks with around 2,000 pallets of baked goods leave the factory premises every day. The basis for the high throughput are the fully automated processes around the new high-bay warehouse from SSI Schaefer. "We had initially connected a semi-automatic deep-freeze warehouse with 4,000 pallet spaces for the finished products to production," says Stollmeier. "Due to the difficult working environment at -25 °C for the employees and in order to eliminate possible human error in order production, the decision was made to implement full automation."

During storage, the pallets pass through two temperature locks

The four-aisle shipping buffer in the fully automated high-bay warehouse (HBW) is integrated into the flow of goods with extensive conveyor technology and offers Inter Europ 20,000 pallet spaces for double-deep storage under deep-freeze conditions. Between production and the high-bay warehouse, work is carried out at temperatures slightly below zero. The high-bay warehouse is operated at an ambient temperature of -25 °C to ensure that the baked goods maintain the prescribed core temperatures during frozen storage. In order to maintain the temperature there and also to gently cool the goods down to -25 °C, the storage pallets pass through two temperature locks on the automatic conveyor line between the labeling area and the high-bay warehouse. The first lowers the ambient temperature for the products to -10 °C, while the second maintains a temperature of -18 °C. At the end, the conveyor line guides the pallets through another airlock into the high-bay warehouse, which is cooled to -25 °C, to the four storage lanes.

The "E" at Exyz stands for energy efficiency

With their telescopic load handling device for double-deep storage and retrieval, the four Exyz devices achieve a total handling capacity of up to 100 double cycles per hour. Image: SSI Schaefer

At the four transfer stations, the storage and retrieval machines (SRMs) pick up the pallets and move them to the storage location specified by the warehouse management system. Device control and process visualization are part of SSI Schaefer's scope of supply. Four Exyz stacker cranes operate in the 41-meter high HBW. With their design features, the Exyz SRMs from SSI Schaefer are designed for minimum space requirements and maximum efficiency. The "E" stands for energy efficiency as well as for the high performance that the single-mast devices offer on all three operational axes, X, Y and Z, in the storage area. To ensure availability when used in Inter Europol's deep-freeze warehouse, the Exyz is made entirely from deep-freeze-compatible materials and equipped with heated control cabinets and special, deep-freeze-compatible touch panels for semi-automatic operation.

100 double games per hour

A lifting speed of up to 60 m/min and a travel speed of up to 200 m/min ensure efficient storage and retrieval of pallets - even at the highest rack levels. This means that Inter Europol achieves energy savings of up to 25 percent and significant reductions in operating costs compared to conventional devices for lifting alone. With their telescopic load handling device for double-deep storage and retrieval, the four Exyz devices in Inter Europol's shipping buffer warehouse achieve a total handling capacity of up to 100 double cycles per hour.

Oxygen reduction for fire protection

Another highlight of the logistics center is the HRL's refrigeration system. This is because the system not only ensures maximum cooling levels, but also includes an oxygen reduction system. It ensures fire safety by reducing the oxygen content of the air, which prevents open flames from igniting. Sprinkler systems make little sense in the freezer area. The water would freeze in the pipes or, if the pipe insulation were strong enough, would freeze on the sprinkler heads at the latest when it emerged. In addition, the usual investments for water tanks and pumps in a sprinkler system can be omitted. However, the somewhat more demanding investment required for oxygen reduction systems places special demands on the construction measures. In addition to detectors and smoke aspiration systems, nitrogen compressors and the necessary piping, the storage walls must be highly impermeable. However, this is a requirement that a TK-HRL like the one in Malopole has to meet anyway.

Covered and encased

In the project at the Polish bakery, all materials and the machine greases and oils used had to be suitable for use with foodstuffs in accordance with the international hygiene standards of the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) concept. This means that systems and components that could come into contact with food - including easy-to-clean and critical areas - must be specially covered and encased.

Pallets are sequenced and ready for collection

The pallets are ready to order on 12 shipping lanes - three per truck - in the outgoing goods area. Picture: SSI Schäfer

The order pallets required for shipping are sequenced via the access points of the SRMs in the high-bay warehouse and a connected transfer car and retrieved according to order on 12 shipping lanes - three per truck - in the refrigerated outgoing goods area. They are designed as inclined roller conveyors and offer an accumulation distance of eleven pallets each, so that a total of 33 pallets are available. A restraint system is integrated into the roller conveyors as a technical safety and monitoring system. It allows the pallet that is to be loaded next to roll forward and blocks the pallets on the other lanes for early removal. "Overall, we have achieved fully automated processes with a consistently secure cold chain from the transfer from production to the provision of outgoing goods," summarizes Inter Europol project manager Stollmeier.

Peter Diener