Case Studies Growing manufacturing levels turns Beef Products Inc. to automation

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	Growing manufacturing levels turns Beef Products Inc. to automation

Growing manufacturing levels turns Beef Products Inc. to automation

Technology Category	Automation & Control - Automation & Process Control Systems Functional Applications - Remote Monitoring & Control Systems Functional Applications - Warehouse Management Systems (WMS)
Applicable Industries	Consumer Goods Food & Beverage
Applicable Functions	Quality Assurance Warehouse & Inventory Management
Use Cases	Inventory Management Predictive Maintenance Process Control & Optimization Warehouse Automation
Services	Software Design & Engineering Services System Integration
Challenge	Food safety is a critical priority at Beef Products, Inc. (BPI) and with manufacturing approaching 1,000,000 lbs per day, it was essential for BPI to automate the material handling and inventory control process. Through automation BPI would achieve maximum storage and optimize their warehouse logistics. BPI required the use of an area adjacent to the meat processing plant to store products and process orders. BPI needed storage capacity in excess of 20 million lbs of beef. In addition, the available land for the freezer was 400’ away from manufacturing with a railroad truck separating the building lots. BPI’s continuous manufacturing operation produces boxed beef, and while the product type is identified by a bar code label on each individual case, the product grade is not determined until the results of quality control testing are known. As a result, BPI needed a way to apply readable bar codes after production, on finished-palletized loads to allow scanning and identification within the new automated warehouse and at their customer’s dock. In addition, their food safety program prohibits shipment of all products until quality assurance testing results are proven. BPI needed the ability to quarantine all products and then to provide automatic release of palletized products as ready-to-ship inventory. Read More
About Customer	Beef Products, Inc. (BPI) is the world’s leading manufacturer of boneless lean beef, headquartered in Dakota Dunes, South Dakota. BPI is renowned for its high standards in food safety and quality, producing nearly 1,000,000 lbs of beef per day. The company operates a continuous manufacturing process that requires stringent quality control measures to ensure the safety and quality of its products. BPI's operations are extensive, necessitating advanced storage and logistics solutions to manage the large volumes of beef produced daily. The company sought to enhance its material handling and inventory control processes through automation to maintain its high standards and improve operational efficiency. Read More
Solution	To garner the greatest amount of storage, run the most efficient logistics system, and provide cost savings, a high-density AS/RS was developed. Westfalia designed the conveying system to include approximately 18 pallets of accumulation between the palletizer and the print-and-apply station in order to allow enough time to gather additional information regarding product grade prior to the labeling system. The pallet loads are then automatically conveyed into the freezer, where they arrive at a turntable and are directed to one of two Storage Retrieval Machines (SRMs) for storage. The AS/RS is designed with two SRMs in one aisle, thereby providing redundancy - should one SRM require maintenance, the other can still service the aisle. The 15-level high freezer storage system has 10-deep storage lanes on both sides of the aisle. Westfalia’s patented Satellite® rack entry vehicle and triple pallet support rack system provide fast 110 pallets/hour throughput rates with safer pallet handling. The innovative high-density storage design furnishes 11,886 pallet positions in a 20,235 square foot freezer. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Automation & Control - Automation & Process Control Systems

Functional Applications - Remote Monitoring & Control Systems

Functional Applications - Warehouse Management Systems (WMS)

Applicable Industries

Consumer Goods

Food & Beverage

Applicable Functions

Quality Assurance

Warehouse & Inventory Management

Use Cases

Inventory Management

Predictive Maintenance

Process Control & Optimization

Warehouse Automation

Services

Software Design & Engineering Services

System Integration

Challenge

Food safety is a critical priority at Beef Products, Inc. (BPI) and with manufacturing approaching 1,000,000 lbs per day, it was essential for BPI to automate the material handling and inventory control process. Through automation BPI would achieve maximum storage and optimize their warehouse logistics. BPI required the use of an area adjacent to the meat processing plant to store products and process orders. BPI needed storage capacity in excess of 20 million lbs of beef. In addition, the available land for the freezer was 400’ away from manufacturing with a railroad truck separating the building lots. BPI’s continuous manufacturing operation produces boxed beef, and while the product type is identified by a bar code label on each individual case, the product grade is not determined until the results of quality control testing are known. As a result, BPI needed a way to apply readable bar codes after production, on finished-palletized loads to allow scanning and identification within the new automated warehouse and at their customer’s dock. In addition, their food safety program prohibits shipment of all products until quality assurance testing results are proven. BPI needed the ability to quarantine all products and then to provide automatic release of palletized products as ready-to-ship inventory.

About Customer

Beef Products, Inc. (BPI) is the world’s leading manufacturer of boneless lean beef, headquartered in Dakota Dunes, South Dakota. BPI is renowned for its high standards in food safety and quality, producing nearly 1,000,000 lbs of beef per day. The company operates a continuous manufacturing process that requires stringent quality control measures to ensure the safety and quality of its products. BPI's operations are extensive, necessitating advanced storage and logistics solutions to manage the large volumes of beef produced daily. The company sought to enhance its material handling and inventory control processes through automation to maintain its high standards and improve operational efficiency.

Solution

To garner the greatest amount of storage, run the most efficient logistics system, and provide cost savings, a high-density AS/RS was developed. Westfalia designed the conveying system to include approximately 18 pallets of accumulation between the palletizer and the print-and-apply station in order to allow enough time to gather additional information regarding product grade prior to the labeling system. The pallet loads are then automatically conveyed into the freezer, where they arrive at a turntable and are directed to one of two Storage Retrieval Machines (SRMs) for storage. The AS/RS is designed with two SRMs in one aisle, thereby providing redundancy - should one SRM require maintenance, the other can still service the aisle. The 15-level high freezer storage system has 10-deep storage lanes on both sides of the aisle. Westfalia’s patented Satellite® rack entry vehicle and triple pallet support rack system provide fast 110 pallets/hour throughput rates with safer pallet handling. The innovative high-density storage design furnishes 11,886 pallet positions in a 20,235 square foot freezer.

Impact #1	Westfalia’s Warehouse Management System (WMS) controls and tracks all product flows throughout the warehouse. As part of the food safety checks, pallets directed to one of the SRMs are stored in quarantine until lab tests are completed. When BPI’s computer communicates the results of the lab tests, a grade is assigned to each pallet and the WMS releases the pallet as ready-to-ship product. When lab tests provide a different result than what is expected, the product grade is changed, and the WMS instructs the SRM to re-warehouse the pallet to a group with the same product grade.
Impact #2	Westfalia’s WMS automatically exchanges information with BPI’s host computer to create product orders. Via the WMS, customer orders are automatically retrieved and conveyed to one of four truck-staging lanes within the freezer. Truck-staging lanes within the freezer high rise provide BPI the benefits of processing orders in advance, staging products at the proper temperature, and freeing valuable dock space.
Impact #3	Westfalia’s design maximizes efficiency of the shipping operation and the storage area, while freeing up valuable dock space. BPI has seen significant labor savings since installing the automated system, as there is no human contact with their products until they reach the shipping dock. Plus, the WMS more accurately tracks inventory and controls product quality from production to the dock.

Impact #1

Westfalia’s Warehouse Management System (WMS) controls and tracks all product flows throughout the warehouse. As part of the food safety checks, pallets directed to one of the SRMs are stored in quarantine until lab tests are completed. When BPI’s computer communicates the results of the lab tests, a grade is assigned to each pallet and the WMS releases the pallet as ready-to-ship product. When lab tests provide a different result than what is expected, the product grade is changed, and the WMS instructs the SRM to re-warehouse the pallet to a group with the same product grade.

Impact #2

Westfalia’s WMS automatically exchanges information with BPI’s host computer to create product orders. Via the WMS, customer orders are automatically retrieved and conveyed to one of four truck-staging lanes within the freezer. Truck-staging lanes within the freezer high rise provide BPI the benefits of processing orders in advance, staging products at the proper temperature, and freeing valuable dock space.

Impact #3

Westfalia’s design maximizes efficiency of the shipping operation and the storage area, while freeing up valuable dock space. BPI has seen significant labor savings since installing the automated system, as there is no human contact with their products until they reach the shipping dock. Plus, the WMS more accurately tracks inventory and controls product quality from production to the dock.

Benefit #1	11,866 pallet positions
Benefit #2	15-level high freezer warehouse
Benefit #3	207’ long x 92’ wide x 101’ high

Benefit #1

11,866 pallet positions

Benefit #2

15-level high freezer warehouse

Benefit #3

207’ long x 92’ wide x 101’ high

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Overview

Growing manufacturing levels turns Beef Products Inc. to automation

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit