ITC - BHADRACHALAM

Need for solution

In a highly competitive world, every single factor that affects the bottom line will mean the difference between success and failure. Under close scrutiny, it has become absolutely clear that if an industrial production house efficiently manages its warehousing, it significantly impacts the cost of production, which in turn determines how competitively the product will perform in the market.

ITC knew it could not ignore this area of its production process. In Mr. C.S. Rao's (then Dy. General Manager) words:
"Having invested crores in upgrading our Bhadrachalam plant with world-class state-of-the-art machinery, that has a phenomenally high throughput, we found that all our expenditure was in vain because there were bottlenecks in our material storage and management. There were also errors in retrieval and high incidence of damage. We had to look for a solution."

Evaluation of conventional options

Initially, to match the high output of the new plant, ITC evaluated a conventional system with high-bay racks and very narrow aisle (VNA) free path stackers. The system could not match the plant's throughput, was heavy on maintenance and given the area of the storage system, could not generate enough storage capacity.

AS/RS as the optimum solution

Due to the shortcomings of the conventional system in areas of capacity and throughput, the option of AS/RS was evaluated. As the name suggests, the solution designed for ITC-BPL is completely unmanned, with robotic Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) prowling the area in response to computer commands, activating Automated Stacker Cranes that store and retrieve materials with precision. There are no errors and no rough handling resulting in damage. The entire warehouse comes to a halt and triggers an alarm should a man enter the area!

How AS/RS satisfied critical warehousing parameters

1. Optimum space utilisation
In a conventional system, there are restrictions on utilisation of height due to limitations on Free Path Material Handling Equipment. The AS/RS solution at ITC-BPL has a staggering height of 20 mtrs. This has ensured very low footprint area without compromising on individual accessibility. In addition to the height utilisation, special telescopic forking mechanism has reduced the aisle to only 100mm more on either side of the pallet. The system installed is 80 mtrs. long, 15 mtrs wide and can store more than 3500 pallets.

2. Improved throughput and error-free retrieval
The Automated System consists of extremely high-speed machines, which work perfectly in tandem with each other. Two fully Automated Stacker Cranes achieve a throughput of 40 pallets per hour and work 24 hours continuously.
As highlighted by Mr. Rao, "The system has adequate mechanical and software features and we get precision handling and damage free goods. We could not have managed this project with a conventional VNA stacking system and with AS/RS we have no errors in storage and retrieval."

3. Reduced labour
Where a conventional system would have required a staff of 25 to 30, the AS/RS requires only a couple of monitoring staff.

4. Real-time data management
Typically managements of old-style warehouses do not have any idea of what is in their inventories and have insufficient data on the items. The AS/RS system brings about discipline in the warehouse, can handle an infinite variety of material, helps reduce inventory by providing accurate data, and ensures 100% error-free operation.

5. Cost effectiveness
In addition to reduction in inventory levels and manpower, the operating costs of the system are extremely low due to use of electricity as fuel medium. By being able to more efficiently process material, the system also reduced building and storage costs overall.
In addition to the above benefits, the AS/RS system provided better reliability of system, clean storage area and improved productivity.

Solution Specifications
Storage capacity (pallet): 3562 nos.
Handling rate (pallets/hour): 72
No. of Stacker Cranes: 2
No. of aisles: 4
Length (m): 78
Width (m): 14
Height (m): 18.5


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