The Borgmeier family business supplies around 350 customers throughout Germany with regional fresh poultry. As processing and dispatch take place within one day, the logistics involved are enormous: every day, meat from 140,000 animals is temporarily stored, picked and prepared for dispatch. In order to meet the constantly increasing demand for high-quality fresh poultry, the producer is planning to expand its site in Delbrück-Schöning to include a logistics center.

This should ensure efficient, transparent dispatch processing and make future business manageable with the same number of employees. Unitechnik's concept was convincing: the general contractor's solution meets high standards in terms of process reliability and ergonomics while at the same time taking up little space.

Conveyor technology and warehouse optimize intralogistics

The logistics center is connected to the existing production facility via a bridge. The conveyor technology integrated there is divided into two lanes for containers and one for pallets. The latter transports pallets, which are transported directly behind the bridge by forklift trucks to the dispatch or deep-freeze area. There, the goods are stored at minus 24 degrees in a mobile racking system on an area of around 1,700^m2.

The container conveyor technology, on the other hand, transports up to 3,000 crates and cartons per hour on two lanes to the 1,000^m2 cold store, which comprises a shuttle system with 30,000 storage locations in four aisles and 26 levels. Finally, picking is carried out according to the goods-to-person principle: the goods reach the six picking stations in sequence via spiral conveyors.

Construction method contributes to economic efficiency

Up to 3,000 such crates are transported to the new refrigerated warehouse every hour. © Borgmeier

In order to save floor space in view of the extensive conveyor technology, Unitechnik has designed a vertical arrangement. The division of the transport flows into four levels instead of two is intended to ensure the availability of goods even if one level fails. Thanks to the high degree of space utilization, the new system ensures cost-efficient cooling. "In addition to a reliable and high-throughput material flow, the well-being of our employees is particularly important to us," says Sebastian Borgmeier, Project Manager at Borgmeier. "The solution we designed together with Unitechnik and advice logistic GmbH will enable us to take a huge step forward in terms of performance and work ergonomics."

The project is divided into two phases: The logistics center building is scheduled for completion in the third quarter of 2022. The deep-freeze mobile racking system is also scheduled to go into operation at the same time. Commissioning of the shuttle warehouse and container conveyor technology is planned for the third quarter of 2023.