Case Studies from Farm to Table: Optimizing A Dairy Distribution Center

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	from Farm to Table: Optimizing A Dairy Distribution Center

from Farm to Table: Optimizing A Dairy Distribution Center

Technology Category	Functional Applications - Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) Automation & Control - Automation & Process Control Systems
Applicable Industries	Food & Beverage Retail
Applicable Functions	Warehouse & Inventory Management Logistics & Transportation
Use Cases	Warehouse Automation Fleet Management Inventory Management
Services	System Integration Hardware Design & Engineering Services
Challenge	To keep up with growth, Byrne Dairy looked for efficiencies at its central cold storage distribution center, Syracuse Cold Storage. This 100,000-square-foot facility boasted 9,000 pallet positions with 16 loading docks. The company wanted to learn more about equipment and operations that could improve material handling processes and material flow at the warehouse. Read More
About Customer	Byrne Dairy, a family-owned company founded in 1933, produces and distributes milk, cream, ice cream and other dairy products. Based in central New York state, Byrne Dairy works with more than 250 local family farms. It receives and processes 50 million pounds of milk each month. Read More
Solution	Byrne Dairy turned to Pengate Handling Systems, Inc., an authorized Raymond® Sales and Services Center, to help evaluate its operations. Together, the companies focused on the pallet racking systems and lift truck fleet at the cold storage facility. They looked for efficiencies in product putaways and orderpicking, among other areas. Ultimately, Byrne Dairy upgraded its Syracuse facility layout and introduced a new, three-deep push-back pallet racking system to maximize use of the facility space. Along with these updates, the company introduced a lift truck fleet for efficiency. The fleet included Raymond Model 8410 end-rider pallet truck for floor-level, primary picking to process daily orders, and Raymond Model 7500 Reach-Fork® trucks for moving pallets from the dock into the racking reserves, and moving reserves down to primary locations on the floor level. These lift trucks also are designed for cold-storage facilities and specialty racks. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Functional Applications - Warehouse Management Systems (WMS)

Automation & Control - Automation & Process Control Systems

Applicable Industries

Food & Beverage

Retail

Applicable Functions

Warehouse & Inventory Management

Logistics & Transportation

Use Cases

Warehouse Automation

Fleet Management

Inventory Management

Services

System Integration

Hardware Design & Engineering Services

Challenge

To keep up with growth, Byrne Dairy looked for efficiencies at its central cold storage distribution center, Syracuse Cold Storage. This 100,000-square-foot facility boasted 9,000 pallet positions with 16 loading docks. The company wanted to learn more about equipment and operations that could improve material handling processes and material flow at the warehouse.

About Customer

Byrne Dairy, a family-owned company founded in 1933, produces and distributes milk, cream, ice cream and other dairy products. Based in central New York state, Byrne Dairy works with more than 250 local family farms. It receives and processes 50 million pounds of milk each month.

Solution

Byrne Dairy turned to Pengate Handling Systems, Inc., an authorized Raymond® Sales and Services Center, to help evaluate its operations. Together, the companies focused on the pallet racking systems and lift truck fleet at the cold storage facility. They looked for efficiencies in product putaways and orderpicking, among other areas. Ultimately, Byrne Dairy upgraded its Syracuse facility layout and introduced a new, three-deep push-back pallet racking system to maximize use of the facility space. Along with these updates, the company introduced a lift truck fleet for efficiency. The fleet included Raymond Model 8410 end-rider pallet truck for floor-level, primary picking to process daily orders, and Raymond Model 7500 Reach-Fork® trucks for moving pallets from the dock into the racking reserves, and moving reserves down to primary locations on the floor level. These lift trucks also are designed for cold-storage facilities and specialty racks.

Impact #1	Increased uptime — The lift truck fleet made an immediate impact with a laser-guidance system, which eliminates downtime for operators, and Raymond’s exclusive ACR System™, which requires fewer battery charges. It allows operators to move more pallets per charge, which helped move Syracuse Cold Storage one step closer to meeting its goal of increased uptime and improved productivity.
Impact #2	Better layout — An optimized layout in two inventory rooms allows multiple lift trucks to maneuver in the aisles at once, eliminating aisle bottlenecks and reducing operator downtime. As a result, efficiency for product putaways increased by 50 percent, and orderpicking productivity rose by 30 percent. The improved design also reduced the average number of handling touches.

Impact #1

Increased uptime — The lift truck fleet made an immediate impact with a laser-guidance system, which eliminates downtime for operators, and Raymond’s exclusive ACR System™, which requires fewer battery charges. It allows operators to move more pallets per charge, which helped move Syracuse Cold Storage one step closer to meeting its goal of increased uptime and improved productivity.

Impact #2

Better layout — An optimized layout in two inventory rooms allows multiple lift trucks to maneuver in the aisles at once, eliminating aisle bottlenecks and reducing operator downtime. As a result, efficiency for product putaways increased by 50 percent, and orderpicking productivity rose by 30 percent. The improved design also reduced the average number of handling touches.

Benefit #1	Efficiency for product putaways increased by 50 percent.
Benefit #2	Orderpicking productivity rose by 30 percent.

Benefit #1

Efficiency for product putaways increased by 50 percent.

Benefit #2

Orderpicking productivity rose by 30 percent.

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Overview

from Farm to Table: Optimizing A Dairy Distribution Center

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit