Key points
From pallets to picking units, the variables involved in creating efficient storage facilities for food and drink products are many, complex and often required to operate effectively in low temperatures. Storage and handling solutions are subject to increasing demands from both legislation and the food chain, with a particular focus on hygiene and green measures, cutting carbon emissions and costs.
Among these is the decision by the European Parliament to phase out use of fluorinated gases/hydrofluorocarbons, which will be subject to a cap and then a ban on their use in new commercial refrigeration equipment from 2022.
“The majority of our customers in the food industry are looking to run their operations as efficiently and as quickly as possible, whilst also keeping a keen eye on cost,” says Mark Murray, major accounts manager for Impact Handling. The Nottingham-based materials handling specialist operates from nine locations around the UK, as an agent for many globally-known forklift, warehouse and logistics brands.
“We really tailor our offering to what’s important to our customers and their needs,” says Murray. Recognising the importance of hygiene in food storage, electric trucks supplied by Impact Handling are IP54-rated so they can be hosed down.
Issues (Return to top)
“Running greener fleets and making sure machines are energy efficient are also key issues for our customers,” he says. “We work closely with each individual business to implement handling solutions such as LPG [liquefied petroleum gas] or electric trucks that fulfil this.”
The business recently supplied seven new stainless steel Ulma Inoxtrucks to the materials handling fleet of Dovecote Park, Waitrose’s dedicated beef supplier, for use inside its dispatch chiller. The order included two ride-on and five walk-behind power pallet trucks, following a competitive tender process in which a trial Ulma machine was modified to fit the customer’s requirements. “These are highly specialist trucks – a world apart from traditional pallet trucks – yet Impact Handling was able to meet our requirement perfectly,” said David Redman, director at Dovecote Park.
The seven new machines are worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week, with their stainless steel design easily cleaned with a high pressure hose. The ride-on trucks feature a suspended platform for greater driving control and electronic steering with speed reduction curves and are designed to work in narrow areas, while the walk-behind trucks feature an adjustable tiller head drive to adapt to operator height.
All trucks feature a cold store configuration with internal heater, to avoid condensation forming in the waterproof compartment.
High density storage (Return to top)
A further innovation from Impact Handling is its new shuttle racking system, a mass storage system with semi-automated shuttles carrying goods in and out of deep storage tunnels. The system leaves “operators free to perform other tasks, vastly increasing productivity”, says Murray. “The shuttle racks also enable high-density storage.”
In addition to more efficient use of storage space, high-density storage systems offer lower utility consumption and thus less environmental impact, says Mike Alibone, business development and marketing manager at SSI Schaefer.
SSI Schaefer, a German logistics specialist, offers a range of storage services from pallets to racking, pallet shuttles and automated storage and retrieval systems. Its specialist food containers include plastic boxes for storing frozen meat and poultry, and plastic totes for storing chilled and ambient fruit and vegetables.
New developments (Return to top)
“Any ‘new’ developments are based upon making better use of existing technology,” says Alibone, such as removing the human element from cold stores and replacing it with automated warehouses and storage systems’ pallet cranes.
In cold stores, a pallet conveyor can be installed to transport produce to the despatch area for loading and delivery to stores, while operations in smaller blast-chilling areas can be speeded up by using an automated pallet shuttle such as SSI Schaefer’s Orbiter.
The Orbiter was among pieces of kit recently installed by Spalding-based T F Bowman & Son, which stores meat, fruit and other food products in ambient, chilled, blast-frozen, frozen and tempered conditions. SSI Schaefer was involved in a year-long project to design, manufacture and install automated pallet handling and storage systems at Bowman, to improve its service, responsiveness and availability.
Bowman’s system includes three ‘tempering’ chambers, one of which has been designed to work as a blast freezing chamber at -25°C. Each chamber offers capacity for 52 pallet locations in four channels across two levels, which are automatically stored and retrieved using the Orbiter. SSI Schaefer also installed mobile pallet racking with high density storage for frozen products in 9,270 pallet locations.
“We are now able to cater for long- or short-term frozen storage, as well as providing automated tempering facilities,” said Peter Bowman, the company’s managing partner. “This added to our existing services of temperature controlled storage, order collation and quality assurance inspection of fresh produce.”
Ambient verses chilled/frozen (Return to top)
“The key difference between ambient versus chilled/frozen storage relates to cost, as it is more expensive to cool air than it is to heat it,” says Alibone. He recommends high density storage solutions such as high bay automated storage and retrieval systems and mobile pallet racking systems for warehouse heights below 15m.
“Mobile racking – essentially conventional pallet racking on rails – allows the storage capacity of an area to be almost doubled,” he says, which “can reduce the total cost per position by as much as 40% in new construction projects, as well as reducing utility bills by as much as 50%”.
Impact Handling, meanwhile, supplies a truck designed for cold store operations, using adapted heaters and cold store oil.
Interroll, a Switzerland-based worldwide provider of internal logistics solutions, supplies drum motors for belt conveyors tailored to handle food products stored at low temperatures.
“Low temperatures are always very stressful to machines and devices,” says Petra Müller, head of PR and investor relations at Interroll. “The requirements on sealing at low temperatures are very high; therefore Interroll uses special low-temperature sealing if drum motors are used between 5°C and -25°C.” The motors can be heated up between low temperature operations, to keep oil and lubricants fluid, says Müller.
Interroll's IP69K ultra-hygienic stainless steel belt drive with synchronous drum motor also lays claim to green credentials, reducing cleaning and disinfection times by up to 30%.
As well as drum motors, Interroll supplies energy-saving 24V RollerDrives, rollers, non-powered flow storage modules for pallet and container storage systems in distribution centres, crossbelt sorters, and belt curves. Customers include Coca-Cola Enterprises, PepsiCo and Walmart.
Temperatures (Return to top)
Dutch group Schoeller Allibert, the world's largest manufacturer of reusable plastic packaging for materials handling, offers trays and containers for the food and drink sector capable of withstanding a wide range of temperatures.
“Whether producers need a tray to handle products fresh out of the oven or a crate for blast freezing or containers that spend their entire life in the freezer, Schoeller Allibert has a handling solution to meet those needs,” says Simon Knights, sales director UK/Ireland. “Containers with ventilated sides aid air flow, speeding cooling and helping to maintain a constant temperature.”
Polypropylene trays and containers are ideal for use between 10°C and 50°C, with many models serviceable from -20°C to 60°C (depending on loading and use) and can be put through tray washers (unloaded) in temperatures over 100°C for short periods. High density polyethylene trays and containers are ideal for use between -30°C and 30°C with many models serviceable from as low as -40°C up to 40°C.
The European Food Safety Authority’s decision to approve the recycling of old returnable transit packaging (RTP) into new high food-grade containers is a positive development in terms of green packaging, according to Schoeller Allibert.
“Previously it was not permitted for food crates and trays to contain any recycled content, but the new accreditation will ensure safety and hygiene,” says Knights. “Recycling old RTP may help manufacturers and retailers to meet carbon reduction targets.”
Schoeller Allibert's Maxinest+ tray range is adaptable for automated handling, with a reinforced base to meet the close tolerances demanded by robot pick-and-place systems.
‘One touch’ transit packaging, where the same container carries produce from manufacturers or storage straight to supermarket retail display is increasingly popular, says Knights.