Laithwaites handles leap in demand

The new system enabled Laithwaites to handle a 50% increase in demand during 2020 and improve productivity from 65% to 98%.

An increase in customer demand for online purchasing meant the ageing plant at their Gloucester facility, which had served them well, was no longer fully supporting their needs. Towards the end of 2019 CKF were approached by the Laithwaites team to develop and deliver a new automated palletising solution.

The engineering team at CKF gained a comprehensive understanding of Laithwaites operations through detailed analysis of the available product data and key review meetings with the Laithwaites ops team. CKF proposed a new fully automated layer palletising system with a multi-lane accumulation feed system mounted on a new mezzanine floor.

Laithwaites wine distribution from the Gloucester facility is defined by online and retail sales, delivery routes, carriers, regions and time to consumer. This requires the filled cases of wine to be automatically sorted and placed onto the correct pallet to be shipped through the correct carrier.

Laithwaites Gloucester facility is a high-bay warehouse with a large demand on floor area. The new CKF installed system maximises the use of the ground floor by moving the accumulation and handling of cases to a new high-level mezzanine. The new fully automated solution uses multiple lanes of low friction conveyors which accumulate full pallet loads of cases (weighing up to 25kg per case) prior to releasing them to two layer palletisers.

The new CKF fully automated system was installed and commissioned in two phases through 2020 working closely with the Laithwaites team to eliminate any operational disruption.

For more information, visit www.ckf.co.uk