| Beverage Wholesaler - August 14, 2017 |
To view this email as a web page, click here. |
| Storage and Retrieval Solutions for Facilities with Space Limitations |
| |
The consumer goods industries are in the midst of a supply chain revolution. Continuous increase in the cost of land, labor and facilities has put a heightened demand on space utilization within warehouses and distribution centers. Just-in-time delivery of smaller quantities of a larger number of products and orders to retail stores is pushing inventory storage back to the DCs and manufacturers. And manufacturers are more closely looking at their storage and how they can satisfy the needs of retailers.
Along with this growth in SKUs and just-in-time delivery is an increase in the variability of primary and secondary packaging of consumer products. Packaging styles include boxes of all sizes, cans and jars in cardboard trays, open and closed cartons for beverages and bags, and large tissue packages.
Logistics executives are adjusting to these dynamics by reconcepting their DCs and manufacturing warehouses, looking for answers to questions like… “How can we optimize our distribution at the lowest total cost, factoring facility, labor, equipment and inventory? And, how can we reduce inbound and outbound transportation costs, and fixed and variable costs within our distribution network?”
Automation is Key
Grocery supply chain partners (including cold storage, food manufacturers, beverage and consumer products) need to provide increasingly efficient storage and throughput of high-volume, ever-changing SKU mixes to retail stores. For handling these loads, automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS), and other technologies are becoming more widely utilized to speed throughput, improve cost efficiency and maintain more precise product tracking.
For decades, AS/RS cranes have been the longstanding workhorse for high-density, high-throughput automated pallet movement in distribution operations. These computer-controlled systems, which automatically deposit, store and retrieve pallet loads from defined storage locations, permit rapid and efficient pallet handling and product rotation, essential to the needs of contemporary warehouses. AS/RS stacker cranes provide single-deep, double-deep and multi-deep stacking, with the flexibility to handle one pallet load at a time or multi-loads. The latest stacker cranes can go three pallets deep with a telescope fork, and then with a satellite remote unit can run a pallet as much as 20 pallets deep, and then return back to the stacker crane.
High-bay AS/RS optimize cubic space usage, not only by their vertical stacking capability, but also by minimizing aisle cubic footage. By eliminating the need for fork lift trucks, aisles can be made significantly more narrow, allowing 12-foot-wide aisles to become just 5-foot wide. This space can then be used for more pallet positions.
But conventional warehouses without high-bay ceiling heights are typically not candidates for AS/RS, even though they may have the same requirements for high-density, high-throughput storage and distribution of pallets with a high volume of fast-moving SKUs. As demands continue to increase on modern distribution facilities, frequently the performance of conventional AS/RS systems will not provide sufficient flexibility, space utilization, throughput and cost payback to justify the investment.
This condition is exasperated as an increasing number of supply chain manufacturers, bottlers and distributors require 24-hour operations, at maximum throughput. Without AS/RS, warehouses depend upon the accelerated use of fork lifts maneuvering pallets into low-bay racking and staging for shipping, which is both highly labor intensive and space consuming.
Manual pallet handling in cold-storage warehouses can be particularly troublesome. Compared to ambient-temperature facilities, many manually-operated cold-storage warehouses are plagued with a higher incidence of wrong item fulfillment and poor product rotation which increases returns, shipping costs and labor.
Cold-storage warehouses also have heightened facility, equipment and product damage, primarily caused by manually-operated forklifts impacting racks, doors, walls and product cases – significantly higher than that found in warehouses with ambient temperatures. Personnel turnover in cold-storage warehouses is also higher than in ambient-temperature facilities. The extreme temperatures create difficult working conditions for personnel, heightened safety issues, and staff recruitment and retention problems.
Beverage bottlers are dealing with their own set of issues when it comes to manual pallet handling. Many are running their operations 24 hours a day, and using mainly fork lifts and manual high-density rack systems for their storage. They are struggling to find labor, and they are running out of space.
READ MORE… |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits shared insights into fall wine and cocktail trends in both the on- and off-premise categories. With limited space on the shelf and behind the bar, off- and on-premise beverage buyers must ensure their offerings and beverage menus are on-trend and relevant with continually evolving consumer drinking preferences.
“It’s so important for a beverage program to be in sync with a seasonal menu strategy,” said Bill Edwards, Senior Vice President, On-Premise National Accounts for Southern Glazer’s. “As we enter the fall, cocktails and wines that match the flavor profiles of seasonal restaurant menus will be the focus. For example, brown spirits, or cocktails with dark spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, go well with culinary offerings. Sparkling wines and spritzes, which have become increasingly popular with consumers, will also continue to bubble up on restaurant menus.”
“In the off-premise, shoppers are looking to recreate their favorite bar experience at home, “added Scott Moore, Senior Vice President, Off-Premise National Accounts for Southern Glazer’s. “In the fall, this will play specifically with Irish whiskeys, bourbons, and craft brands, all which have seen phenomenal growth this year.”
READ MORE… |
|
|
ONE MORE THING
Cannabis Regulator is new publication covering the legal cannabis industry. Visit CannabisRegulator.com today to subscribe and stay up-to-date on this emerging market. |
| |
JOBS BOARD
Receiving Supervisor
Wholesaler: Breakthru Beverage
Location: New Castle, DE
Requirements: College degree and 3+ years of experience in a warehouse environment.
MORE… |
|
This email was sent to you on behalf of Beverage Wholesaler
EPG Media & Specialty Information, 10405 6th Avenue N, Suite 210, Minneapolis, MN 55441
Copyright 2017 by EPG Media & Specialty Information
For more news and information visit http://www.BevWholesaler.com
Subscription Center
opt out
|
|
