Barilla – the new automatic warehouse

Maximising investments: Barilla's new high-performance automatic warehouse

LCS builds a new automatic warehouse for Barilla, in a disused building. An efficient and cutting-edge solution in compliance with all building constraints and performance requirements.

The Company and its Needs:
Barilla Group is an Italian multinational company operating since 1877 in the supply of pasta, sauces and bakery products. The Group is present all over the world thanks to its brands, which have become an icon of excellence in the food sector. The commitment to take any decision with respect for people and the environment is key.
The company has 28 production sites, which each year contribute to the production of over 1,900,000 tons of products.

In Italy, LCS collaborates with Barilla in relation to the plants in Pedrignano, Foggia and Castiglione delle Stiviere.

For the Castiglione delle Stiviere site, Barilla’s goal was to implement the number of pallet places and optimize storage and retrieval operations, always in goods to man mode and by implementing a total revamping of the pre-existing automatic system, now obsolete and in disuse.
Barilla wanted to preserve part of the system to be replaced (especially the metal structures) and was bound by the dimensions of the pre-existing structure. In other words, it was a matter of improving and innovating a site in depth but preserving its valuable features.

Objective details:

  • Take advantage of the existing structure without substantial modifications
  • Increase storage capacity
  • Increase storage and retrieval speed
  • Process optimization
  • Attention to the ergonomic conditions of the staff’s activity

The implemented solution:

LCS was therefore entrusted with the task of finding an efficient and cutting-edge solution that would guarantee both compliance with building constraints, as well as adaptation to performance requirements.

Automatic warehouse – Master shuttle technology with slave shuttle

This is the solution engineered and implemented by LCS after months of analysis and building/structural interventions carried out with Dalmine Marcegaglia.

The new automatic warehouse has a width of 40m and has 1 central aisle around which 5 levels are located, for a total of 400 storage channels measuring 14m in depth.

Pallets enter and exit the warehouse seamlessly. Once the weight and shape control stations have been crossed, they move through the five levels of the structure thanks to master shuttles capable of reaching up to 240 metres per minute and slave shuttles that automatically deposit or pick up pallets from the best position (depending on orders in progress, expiry dates, entry/exit protocols, etc.) for a total of 60 + 60 cycles/hour (in and out).

All these activities are carried out thanks to LCS software “LogiWare“, which also manages the semi-automatic warehouse at the same site in Castiglione delle Stiviere and coordinates all the storage and handling activities that are performed between the two warehouses (automatic and semi-automatic).

Achieved benefits

About 6,500 pallet places have been added (compared to the initial 12,000) as a result of the revamping operation performed by LCS and the integration of automatic and semi-automatic warehouses.

More specifically, the solution created by LCS has:

  • increased storage capacity (by 6,500 pallet places)
  • guaranteed a significant reduction in costs for shuttle and outdoor storage by retrieving the inactive warehouse
  • upgraded the existing site by preserving its valuable assets
  • improved the synergy of warehouse activities

The close and fruitful long-term collaboration with Barilla has been a decisive factor in developing a cutting-edge automatic warehouse that is, in fact, a strategic asset to successfully address future challenges.

LCS and Barilla

“In Castiglione it was necessary to create a skilled and dynamic team, it was crucial to consider multiple aspects and perspectives, to act with the utmost proposal and project skills, to involve several high-level suppliers capable of working as a real team, professionally handling extremely complex challenges. And this is how it was done”.
Ing. Fabio Zucchini
Service manager – R&D – LCS SpA

“This is exactly what we mean by teamwork: we expect our partners to make not just execution, but decisive project and thinking contributions. Castiglione delle Stiviere is an excellent example of this, involving two different main suppliers: the first, Dalmine, for the structural aspects, the second, LCS, for mechanics, automation and technology”.
Davide Busato
Group Supply Chain Logistics Competence Center – Barilla G. e R. Fratelli S.p.A.

Facts and figures

The new automatic warehouse:

  • 5 shuttles with slave device on board (one for each shelf level)
  • 2 lifters to carry the pallets from the ground floor to each storage level and vice versa
  • 1 lifter for shuttle level change in degraded mode
  • LCS software for automation, supervision and warehouse management
  • Cameras for 24/7 system supervision
  • Maintenance contract, with remote connection

Case History