Hengshun’s labour-free automated warehouse with raw vinegar fermentation in Turkey

Hengshun's Automated Warehouse, Jiangsu

The warehouse of Vinegar producer Hegnshun in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, is a warehouse for vinegar’s fermentation, has equipped with Huaruide High-Density Mother-Child Shuttle System. In total, 10659 pallets loaded Jar are stored. Huaruide has also integrated automatic bottling line and Jar washing line and implemented WMS warehouse management system monitor each movement inside, fulfill labor-free automatic warehouse for customer.

The Most Famous Vinegar Producer in China

Hengshun Vinegar Industry started form 1840, and be famous in China over hundred years, which is the biggest vinegar producer and the first listed vinegar manufacturer company. The main products includes vinegar, soy sauce, pickles, compound seasonings, seasonings and other seasonings. Regarding to Chinese vinegar, it starts form wine and experience twenty-one days fermentation, becoming vinegar.

Big Storage Capacity Requirement and Labor-Free of Whole Process

The company has a production plant, it has a full production lines and has installed an stacker crane automatic warehouse (also provided by Huaruide), to reach the full automation manufacturing from raw material incoming to finished goods outgoing, and the possibility to track goods. The company planned to install a facility to ferment vinegar by providing a surface length: 86 m, width 30 m.

The vinegar was injected in a big jar with 900 mm diameters and 1250 mm height, each jar is 500 kg fixed on a 1100 mm*1000mm steel pallet. Only one SKU in the warehouse, and low frequency of incoming and outgoing, the peaking throughout is 40 jars outbound per hour.

Although the frequency is very low, but storage capacity need very high. To get the storage aim of increasing needs from market, this warehouse storage capacity need at least 5,000 ton, which means customer requires 10,000 jar inside.

Obviously, mother-child shuttle solution is a suit one for this project, with high-density character and cooperation with mother shuttle lift, it can make project much save money under no consideration of throughput.

Features of the Automated Storage and Retrieval Area

It fills a 2580 m² area and comprises two sets of mother-child shuttle with 24 m shuttle type rack which only has one 78 m mother shuttle aisle for each layer. The total 10659 jars can be stored in 11 layers rack, which is 5330 tons vinegar inside.

Each movement of a mother-child shuttle is in charge of collecting pallet from the inbound conveyors and depositing them in the locations assigned by Huaruide WMS. The mother shuttle move at a travel speed of 120 m/min, and child shuttle can travel speed of 60 m/min when it was left at the end of child rail, which can make it possible to carry out 40 pallet in and out per hour. The installation has only two set of mother-child shuttle, cooperation with mother shuttle lift which is available to lift and down mother-child to defined layers and no need to prepare mother shuttle per layer.

Automatic Inject and Extraction Line and Jar washing

To get more safety, the company technical director said: we need labor free from raw material enter the warehouse until it outbound from it, what we want is there is no possible to occur safety problem during storage period. It is regarding to our company reputation. As a result, inject, extraction and empty jar washing process become automatic.

The circle of warehouse inside will be like the following: before the warehouse put into operation, over 10,000 jars will inbound in rack by mother-child shuttle, then the system is in operation practically. At the first time, the empty will outbound form the rack, and transfer to washing line by conveyors. The wash machine uses high pressure water clean inside of jar and drying it with high temperature sterilization. Then the cleaned jar will be sent to a defined locations bellow injector. There is big tank over injector, and linked with other building with pipe for providing raw vinegar. Once jar reached the position, the injector will start and calculated the volume. Normally the volume of each jar is 0.5 ton ±0.2 ton according to customer’s setting. Then the loaded jar will be sent to inbound point and wait for mother-child shuttle to do enter of racks.

After 21 days fermentation, the raw vinegar becomes finished. Huaruide software will mention operators that jar should be outbound today on computers. If the operators agree then this defined jar will be sent to extractor position, and from the top will stretch out a sucker to the bottom of jar to extract vinegar, and send them to the next manufacturing process. After extracting, this empty will go back to rack and waiting for the next order. The whole procee is labor free, means no need anybody to stay in the warehouse.

The Advantages of Going Automated

From trend side view, that the robots replace people in labor intensive is inventible process, which is also called industry 4.0. The logistics needed a labor to transfer goods, and accuracy and cooperation efficient is very hard to keep, these disadvantage can be done by automation.

For money-saving aspect, China has consumed demographic dividend, and speed up to aging society which results in labor cost raising every year. As the calculation, the labor cost will be over the cost of the warehouse after 10 years.

Draw a conclusion, building an automated warehouse yields the company advantages like:

• Optimum use of space and constructed volume.

• Perfect control over stored goods and maximum storage capacity optimisation.

• Real-time inventory.

• Higher productivity and availability.

• Lower structural maintenance costs.

• Reduced operating costs.

• Safely kept goods and lower risk of accidents.

• Non-stop 24-hour operations.

• Lower personnel costs.