Industrial Automation

Asahi Beverages, Heathwood. Photo: Chris Coote

This week Chris Coote, NPSG Australia Assistant Project Manager was fortunate to visit Asahi Beverages at Heathwood in Brisbane.  The tour was arranged by SCLAA (Supply Chain and Logistics Association of Australia) and provided a rare opportunity for a sneak peek into industrial automation and the automatic storage and retrieval system (ASRS). 

Representatives from both Asahi and Dematic provided insight into how the ASRS has improved the efficiency of warehouse operations, reduced manual processes, and has enabled Asahi to better service its customers. The result is an increase of productivity by 250 per cent.

The high bay is 13 levels high, 34 bays deep, and the ASRS extends to six pallet positions deep on either side of the six cranes, which are accessed by satellite carts. In total there are approximately 31,500 pallet storage positions.

Asahi currently utilises 94% of the rack continuously.

Background
A few years back Asahi consolidated their multiple Brisbane sites into one Distribution Centre (DC). With the development of the Heathwood DC, Asahi decided to upgrade to an automated warehouse solution, as they previously had a very labour-intensive system in place.

In making the decision to consolidate its sites into one DC and upgrade to an automated solution, Asahi wanted to achieve several benefits, including reducing costs, improving efficiency and productivity, and being able to better meet the needs of its customers.

More about this project is available on the Dematic website at this link