COMPANY HISTORY

Founded in 1971, RAPORAL’s history is rooted in the association of 18 pig farmers to produce high quality feed for their animals.

The careful selection of raw materials, the quality and safety imposed on animal feed production, diversifying products to accompany the evolution in animal nutrition and genetics, together with strict compliance to legislation, food safety regulations, respect for the environment and training professionals to high standards, made RAPORAL a benchmark for quality and reliability in the Portuguese market and beyond.

In 2015, Raporal contracted Logiqs, through partners Ramada Storax Group and WICS Logistics, to design and build an efficient, fully automatic high-volume pallet storage and retrieval system for their new cutting, freezing and storage unit part of the STEC III production facility in Montijo, Portugal. This facility processes beef grown by Raporal’s local growing facilities.

THE PROJECT WAS DELIVERED AND WENT INTO PRODUCTION IN 2016.

When planning this facility, Raporal focused on the sustainability and energy efficiency of the facility but also on efficient automation that not only increases productivity, but also minimizes undesirable labour, where employees would need to work in sub-zero temperatures.

This state of the art production facility features two cooling tunnels for freezing the product before storage in the iCube warehouse at a constant temperature of -25°C.

The facility’s automation system keeps track of each individual package of product throughout all production processes with QR code readers that are fully integrated with the company’s ERP system.

This allows for a very strict control on all items for food safety and keeps track of the validity date of each individual item stored in the warehouse.
Once the product is boxed, it is then stacked automatically on low profile metal pallets. Each pallet is stacked up to a height of maximum 1,8 meter and a weight between 1.000 kg and 1.500 kg. Raporal chose to use metal pallets because of the higher load capacity, sturdiness and height saving profile.

Once the product is stacked on to the pallets, the pallets are automatically transported through an airlock into the iCube automatic warehouse. The pallets are scanned again by QR scanners and the data is synchronized with both the company’s ERP system and the Logiqs WCS (Warehouse Control Software).

The system uses a very compact inbound-outbound bay, leading to even better space optimization and lower energy usage for cooling. The warehouse also uses double air locks for both inbound and outbound pallets, lowering the energy needs required for cooling even more.

While this iCUBE – automatic warehouse only has a footprint of 550 m2 and a height of 12,5 meter, it has a total capacity of 2.300 pallets spread out over five levels.

The total capacity of the warehouse is 3.000 tons of product and the facility has a yearly capacity of around 18.000 tons. The warehouse is fully automated using just two Logiqs 3D-Carriers and one Logiqs Lift.

The Logiqs WCS also allows the user to perform complex reorganizing tasks during the night preparing outbound pallets for easy retrieval. This software capability can also be applied to automatically reorganizing pallets according to the validity date of the products stored on the pallets.

The 3D-Carriers are powered by highly efficient 120ah Li-Ion batteries with a fast charge time of 30 minutes using the aisle fast charging locations and a maximum continuous operation time of 6 hours.

The Logiqs Lift is capable of transporting either just the 3D-Carrier or the pallet independently or it can also transport both the 3D-Carrier and pallet simultaneously because of its lifting capacity of over 2.000 kg.

As with the control of the 3D-Carriers, the Lift is also controlled by the Logiqs WCS, which automatically makes the most efficient transport strategy choices.

The team at Logiqs is proud to have Raporal as one of the early adopters of the innovative iCube automatic storage and handling system, and we are looking forward to a long and fruitful collaboration with Raporal in the coming years and decades.

AFTER SALES SERVICES

Logiqs has its own experienced installation and service team based in the Netherlands, but also collaborates with reliable service engineer teams in several countries so as to prevent unnecessary installation or maintenance costs.

Our customers can always rely on prompt and efficient attention for routine maintenance, breakdown or emergency situations.

Routine preventative maintenance can be tailored to the customer’s choice, with service intervals to suit the specific needs of the logistical system.