A fresh take on storage

The Greenery is a leading fruit and vegetable distributor, which has opted for BITO pallet live storage to handle its broad range of produce, which spans organic home-grown as well as exotic fresh fruit, vegetables and mushrooms.

Adapting quickly to client demands is key to The Greenery’s business model. This creates demanding storage requirements. Its pallet live storage installations have been equipped with picking tunnels to link buffer areas with picking areas. Pick pallets are supplied in live storage lanes, with pallet buffer stock located on top. Buffer stock is also kept in live storage lanes as well as products that do not grow in the Netherlands during some months of the year.

Relocating fully loaded pallets from the buffer area on top to the live storage lanes at floor level guarantees continuous supply to the order pickers. This, in turn, ensures an uninterrupted supply chain to retailers. Moreover, BITO’s solution makes optimum use of the warehouse capacity, which would be much lower with static pallet racking. 

Called PROflow, the pallet live storage system, provides The Greenery with the solution it needs for meeting these requirements. It ensures that the FIFO principle (First In, First Out) – a key ingredient for success in the food industry – is maintained.

In contrast to static pallet racking, pallet live storage allows products to be stored in FIFO sequence. The lanes of each pallet live block are replenished with stock from the loading aisle. Products are picked at the opposite side so those fed in first are taken out first. This sequence offers numerous advantages such as easy control of sell-by dates, production batches and product lines. Moreover, it gives direct access to all items at the picking face and each pallet moves forward by gravity when the empty one in front is removed. Sufficient replenishment quantities guarantee constant product availability. Given that products are always in direct access at the picking face, order picking is both fast and easy. The clear layout, which allows immediate product access, helps to reduce process times and improve process predictability.

Pallet live storage installations are far more compact than pallet racking and provide a better overview of the reference lines on stock. This reduces travel routes for order pickers as well as the time required for order collation at the loading dock. In addition to increasing picking performance this storage solution can be used within a much smaller floor surface, a fact that will save energy costs – particularly in cold stores.

The FlowStop load separator is an innovative feature of BITO pallet live storage. Mounted to the picking side, the load separator reliably separates the first pallet from the other pallets in the lane, allowing forklift trucks to retrieve a pallet safely without lane pressure and without damaging the component. Truck forks can pass under the full length of the pallet – there is no need to pull the pallet halfway out and then reposition the forks. This makes product handling a lot easier and reduces the risk of fruit or vegetables crates toppling over.

Hygiene is of course a major food industry requirement, whether in ambient warehouses, in chill stores or in cold stores – and strict regulations apply. For this reason, BITO pallet live storage can be provided with tiltable roller conveyor lanes, which allow convenient cleaning of the floor beneath. Even when products are handled with care, there is a risk that truck forks can cause damage to packaging units – leading to spilt contents and soiled warehouse floors. With tiltable roller conveyor lanes it is easy for warehouse operators to keep these areas perfectly clean.