The medical and pharmaceutical product warehouse of Chiggiato Trasporti

The value of logistics

In 1972, the entrepreneur Giuseppe Chiggiato founded this company that provides 3PL services (i.e. storage, management and transportation) to its customers from any sector, although chiefly in pharmaceuticals and foods. It distributes all these goods throughout Italy and in the rest of Europe, and also to countries like Russia, Morocco, Turkey and Iran.

Chiggiato Trasporti had various warehousing facilities spread all over Italy. However, maintaining that many centres entailed an unbearable operating cost for the company. According to Emanuele Mura, Logistics Manager, “we needed to focus all our logistics into a single large dimension centre.”

In 2015, Mecalux had already set up some of its warehouses with pallet racks in the Italian town of Castelminio. After this experience, Chiggiato Trasporti requested Mecalux’s collaboration to design its new distribution centre in Piombino Dese (in Northern Italy). In the words of Mr Mura, “Mecalux has shown itself to be a proactive, deadline focused partner, and is always on hand with expert advice, or to solve anything that we have ran into over the past few years.”

Huge storage capacity

At the outset, the logistics manager knew very clearly that the distribution centre required pallets racks. “This choice, other than it being a flexible system to store all types of products, is due to its direct access, which helps us locate each product any time we need to,” he adds.

Mecalux has equipped the Chiggiato Trasporti distribution centre with fourteen back-to-back, single-depth bays and two single entry bays for pallets. Standing seven levels high, they are 13.5 m high and 48 m long. Overall, they offer a warehousing capacity that exceeds 15,000 pallets.

The racks have been calculated with the guidelines of the Italian NTC 2008 and the European UNE-EN 16681 standards in mind, which is why they are specifically reinforced to withstand any seismic tremors that might occur in the region.

An average of 1,000 pallets are received daily, mainly from Italy, Japan and Malaysia, while another 1,000 pallets of goods are also distributed. “Chiggiato Trasporti engages in the day-to-day supply of raw materials to their particular manufacturing centres and the dispatch of many companies’ final products throughout Europe,” points out Emanuele Mura.

Safety first

Mainly, this warehouse is a depot for medical and pharmaceutical materials for customers in this professional sector. “80% of stored stock comprises raw materials and finished products of a leading pharmaceuticals multinational,” mentions Mr Mura.

“The delicate nature of the stored material calls for best practice in safety during transportation and handling,” he explains. For this reason, operators are aware that they must manage the pallets with the utmost care to maintain products in top conditions.

Moreover, Mecalux has set up mesh shelves on all storage levels. This involves an electro-welded mesh, set on top of crossties, which acts as a stiffener and stops the accidental fall of materials. According to Emanuele Mura, “these shelves guarantee the safety of the goods in case of a sudden movement by an operator.”

Due to centre's massive size, an underpass was opened across the racks transversally. It facilitates the flow of personnel and, at the same time, acts as an emergency exit.

Emanuele Mura - Logistics Manager of Chiggiato Trasporti
“We have focused all our logistics into a single large-sized centre fitted out with Mecalux pallet racks. This solution has provided the storage capacity we need to manage the large volume of incoming and outgoing pallets we work with on a daily basis.”

Advantages for Chiggiato Trasporti

• Maximum storage capacity: overall, the pallet racks add up to a storage capacity of more than 15,000 pallets.
• High productivity: the direct access racks mean 1,000 pallets can be moved daily, both in entries and exits.
• A safe system: the racks include electro-welded mesh shelves that guarantee the sturdiness and protection of the loads, a crucial feature when dealing with medical and pharmaceutical materials.