First Line Software is a premier provider of software engineering, software enablement, and digital transformation services. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the global staff of 450 technical experts serve clients across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
The Client
The client is an agricultural holding entity and a leading supplier of poultry in Ukraine. The company owns 5 poultry plants and 2 fowl farms.
A new agricultural complex of the client is the largest and best technically equipped site of the holding. The agricultural complex occupies 250 acres and provides for all stages of chicken meat production including storage and packaging.
The Challenge
The customer decided to build an automated, continuous refrigeration system. The implementation of such a system is a mandatory requirement for all meat suppliers to EU countries.
The German company viastore WMS was selected as the equipment and WMS system supplier. Adjustment and customization work was provided by First Line Software, the official viastore WMS partner representative.
Project Development
Within a short time, a cold storage warehouse with down to -0°F temperature conditions was built. Three Viapal stacking cranes were installed in the storage area. These cranes provide for precise pallet placement and off-load to a 9-fold depth by means of a shuttle system. The viastore warehouse management system provides monitoring and control of all the warehousing processes with maximal accuracy and efficiency.
The Result
Robotized machinery performs all the work, not only at the warehouse but throughout the entire refrigeration area. Product delivery from the packing department to the storage location is facilitated by means of a conveyor line. Placing of packaged products, scanning, and transportation from the automated warehouse poultry farm to the discharge zone for final shipment is also performed by stacking robots.
Each pallet with packaged products is equipped with motion and temperature sensors, thus allowing tracking of the quality characteristics of the product after the warehouse dispatch up to delivery to the retail stores. Monitoring and control are carried out by the viastore WMS. Thanks to the thorough preparation and design of the cold storage area (performed by viastore WMS specialists), the project was completed within 6 months.