Integrated Warehouse Automation Improves Throughput

Herba Ricemills has partnered with Mecalux to deploy an automated pallet shuttle system and warehouse management software at its facility in Spain. The integrated technology automates storage and retrieval processes to increase shipping efficiency and support the food manufacturer's expansion into African and Middle Eastern markets.

Industry Context and Operational Challenges
Herba Ricemills, a subsidiary of Ebro Foods, produces ready-to-serve cooked rice products. The company required structural scaling at its plant in San Jose de la Rinconada, Spain, to manage increasing production volumes and support a planned geographic expansion into Africa and the Middle East. The primary operational challenge involved managing a high number of individual stock-keeping units with massive output volumes, which exceeded the capacity and efficiency limits of traditional, manual storage infrastructures.

Selected Technical Solution and Architecture
To address these capacity constraints, the company transitioned to an automated warehousing model utilizing technologies from Mecalux. The core technical solution features an automated Pallet Shuttle system operating in tandem with a stacker crane. This industrial automation infrastructure utilizes an electrically powered shuttle that travels autonomously through the storage channels to load and unload pallets from the racking structure.

For inventory requiring extremely high volumes of a single stock-keeping unit, the facility also utilizes racking equipped with a semi-automated Pallet Shuttle. The entire hardware ecosystem is orchestrated by a central warehouse management software system, which directs the autonomous equipment and provides real-time tracking of material flow.




Deployment and System Integration
The system was deployed to maximize the available vertical and horizontal space within the existing facility footprint. By replacing standard forklift aisles with high-density deep-lane storage, the layout optimizes the storage density per square meter.

Juan Pedro Alvarez, director of the Ready to Serve division at Ebro Foods in Andalusia, stated that the international focus of the multi-brand company results in a significant number of stock-keeping units with high volumes for each, which justified the integration of an automated warehouse architecture.

Quantifiable Results and Operational Impact
Following the implementation of the Mecalux systems, Herba Ricemills expanded its holding capacity to 5,400 pallets. The automated hardware and synchronized software integration resulted in a 25 percent increase in overall facility productivity.

The transition to autonomous pallet handling removed manual dependencies and reduced transit times across the facility. Manuel Matias Martinez, Head of Warehouse and Logistics Management at the plant, noted that the technological upgrade allowed the facility to achieve a zero-error rate in inventory handling, shorten order preparation times, optimize floor space, and maintain a constant flow of materials.

Edited by Aishwarya Mambet, Induportals Editor, with AI assistance.

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