YORK, Pa. – FAGE USA Dairy’s new plant in Johnstown, NY has a complete Westfalia Technologies, Inc. (www.WestfaliaUSA.com) High Density Automated Storage & Retrieval System (AS/RS) with Savanna.NET® Warehouse Management System (WMS). The new Johnstown facility is FAGE’s first yogurt manufacturing plant in the US. Westfalia’s AS/RS will handle storage and picking in the 40° F warehouse.

 

FAGE (pronounced fah-yeh), based in Athens, Greece, has taken the dairy world by storm with it’s all natural, premium yogurt that has a distinctly rich, creamy and fresh taste. The FAGE Total Yogurt is a top seller in Greece and has won food tasting accolades around the world. After much success in Europe, the company is expanding into the US market – its 28^th country.

 

FAGE has five state-of-the-art plants in Greece, in which a substantial part of each process is fully automated. Their belief in automation, and the rewards it has reaped FAGE, make FAGE USA’s interest in AS/RS easily understandable. The company philosophy incorporates automation as a means of competing efficiently, and maintaining product quality and safety.

 

FAGE had specific requirements for their system including the handling of buffer product from manufacturing, full pallet movement, case picking, and buffered pre-picked material back into the AS/RS for future retrieval/truck loading. To meet these requirements Westfalia designed a warehouse plan utilizing our Satellite® technology. The system includes one Storage/Retrieval Machine, a complete pallet conveying system, gravity flow pick lanes, bar code scanners, stretch wrappers, label printing and placement equipment, and Savanna.NET® WMS to track all the pallets throughout the facility and control the case picking operation. Our patented Satellite® entry vehicle stores pallet loads 5-deep on one side of the aisle and 11-deep on the other side. The four level high racks hold 1,638 pallet positions and have 23 gravity flow pick lanes in the first level of the rack. All pallets will be supported on our 3-rail system which provides a safer, more reliable system as pallet deflection/breakage is eliminated.

 

Westfalia’s modular Warehouse Management System (WMS) Savanna.NET® controls the movement, storage and order picking of all pallets within the facility. When signaled, Savanna.NET directs the Storage/Retrieval Machines to store and retrieve the pallets into or out of rack. Both pallets coming into the AS/RS from manufacturing and the receiving docks, utilize an accumulation conveyor system which includes a profile checking station and a load squaring station. The accumulation conveyors smooth out any instantaneous throughput surges and ensure a more streamlined flow of material between different processes. For order picking, portable RF equipment carried in hip holsters is used. Order selection personnel pick from pallets in the 5-deep gravity flow lanes to pallets positioned on pallet jack trucks or fork trucks.

 

The economic and environmental benefits of Westfalia’s Go Green with High Density AS/RS attracted FAGE. Compared to a conventional warehouse, the multiple-deep design has major financial benefits as more storage in less space equates to reduced building construction costs, lower sustainable operating costs (lower energy, labor and product waste costs) and increased accuracy. Plus the warehouse design uses a smaller building footprint, thereby having less impact on the environment.  Temperature controlled automated warehouses average a 30% reduction in energy costs, which is sustainable for the life of the plant.

 

 

Westfalia Technologies, Inc. is a leader in providing logistics software and material handling equipment for plants, warehouses and distribution centers. Their expertise in combining software (WMS) development with automated equipment manufacturing reveals Westfalia’s ability to deliver turn-key solutions to meet each client’s specific needs with unsurpassed quality and control. To learn more about Westfalia’s products, including Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (AS/RS) and Savanna.NET® Warehouse Management Systems, visit www.WestfaliaUSA.com.

 

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