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The UK branch of the world’s largest
grocery retailer is investing strongly in
their home shopping services. In total,
5 new greenfield central distribution
warehouses will become operational
almost simultaneously in order to keep
up with the fast-growing trend in home
delivery.
Order totes will move around the
distribution centres, from picking
to dispatch and back, effectively
utilising most of all 3 dimensions and
not wasting any space. Although
greenfield sites can be laid out freely,
spiral conveyors can be very useful.
Apart from space saving, they reduce
unnecessary conveyor tracks from
blocking walkways, and improve
access throughout the process.
Each site will be enhanced by 8
‘SpiralVeyors’ of both the SV-series
and the revolutionary SVo series.
The SV series will be fitted with a
400mm wide belt for the more general
descending purposes whilst the SVo
Recently, the manufacturing plant
of Candia in Vienne, France,
reorganized its buildings and its
internal flows. In this context, BA
Systèmes has supplied a fleet of 7
AGV type ‘Motorized Conveyors’ for
transporting simultaneously 3 pallets
(CM3).
Spiral solutions
A second plant equipped
series is very cost effective solution
making use of a new AmbaFlex patent
pending technology.
This newly-developed technology
utilises the advantage of spiral conveyor
technology in a very unique way. A
spiral conveyor will always have a
significant steeper incline angle on the
inside of the track than on the outside
diameter of the spiral track. This effect
causes a rigid product to rock, more or
less on two corner points.
But, effectively, the newly-developed
belt technology eliminates this effect
and provides support over the complete
product length, giving a larger contact
surface. For rigid items with repeating
sizes, such as shipping containers, it’s
the ultimate solution offering stable
contact and a much higher grip. Thanks
to this innovation, items can be
elevated at much higher inclines, saving
elevation time and costs.
The role of the AGVs was first to
automate the transfer of finished goods
to shipment in dedicated areas. The
AGVs have to feed gravity conveyors
by dropping predefined orders created
by ‘AGV Manager’, BA Systèmes’
supervisory software. The pallets of
finished products are ready to be loaded
into trucks to their final destination.
Project management is one of the
strengths of BA Systèmes. For this
project BA Systèmes has introduced
some features, such as the passage
of AGVs outside the building, but
also cohabitation with a competitor
AGV system. The installation was
therefore carried out in several phases
orchestrated by the BA Systèmes teams
to the commissioning of a second
AGV system without impacting plant
productivity.
Mr Vierne, Technical Manager for Candia
Vienna says:
“We particularly appreciated BA
Systèmes’ project management with a
proper monitoring of the prerequisites for
the installation and management of risks.
It was definitely an asset to the success
of this project. We see every day the
speed, the agility and responsiveness of
the system, which allows to the plant to
get a high performance.”
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Logistics Business Magazine | September 2015
CONVEYORS & AGVs