An AS/RS doubles the throughput of 3PL provider Nordlogway

Nordlogway: comprehensive logistics for all types of companies

Nordlogway is a 3PL provider with more than 70 years of experience in comprehensive logistics service for food, chemical, pharmaceutical and large-scale retail businesses. Based in Barcelona, the company provides its customers with exclusive, personalised service, ensuring the safety of their goods and reliability in meeting deadlines.

• Founded in: 1946
• No. of logistics centres: 6
• Total storage space: 60,000 m²

Nordlogway is a third-party logistics (3PL) provider with warehouses strategically located in the Spanish regions of Barcelona, Osona and Vallés. All its logistics centres are connected to Barcelona’s port and airport, to the main highways to France and to the rest of the Iberian Peninsula.

“We’re currently shoring up our customer base in addition to opening new logistics centres to become a benchmark 3PL provider in the region. We manage a total of 60,000 m² of floor space dedicated to warehousing,” says Jaume Rovira, Operations Manager of Nordlogway’s logistics centres in Osona.

The company plans and controls the flow, storage and distribution of its customers’ goods efficiently and effectively. In Osona, Nordlogway has opened a new centre to cope with the growth it is experiencing as a result of its customers’ logistics outsourcing strategy: “We needed more space to be able to offer our current and potential customers storage and distribution solutions,” says Rovira.

Along with optimising its surface area to gain capacity, the company has incorporated advanced technologies in its processes: “We’ve opted to automate our logistics operations to ramp up productivity and prevent incidents,” says Rovira.

Nordlogway has installed an automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) for pallets with capacity for 500 SKUs containing industrial products from the cosmetics sector, industrial ventilation components and ambient-temperature food. “All the goods we now keep in our automated system used to be stored in a larger centre with practically double the staff and triple the industrial machinery — and the same volume of activity,” says Rovira.

The AS/RS is run by Mecalux’s Easy WMS warehouse management system. “The main benefit we’ve obtained with the implementation of Easy WMS is that now, we no longer have to worry about strategies for slotting and rearranging the goods in the racks. The software decides this for us,” says Rovira.

Warehouse automation and management digitisation have enabled Nordlogway to double its volume of business and service to its customers. “Before, we would load and dispatch 15 lorries a day, but since installing the AS/RS, we dispatch up to 30 every day,” says Rovira.

AS/RS characteristics

“The AS/RS, which has three stacker cranes, helps us to manage our high-turnover products, optimising our human resources,” says Rovira in terms of the features of the new storage system.

The AS/RS stands 18 m tall and has three aisles, each with a stacker crane. With capacity for 4,152 pallets, the system automatically receives and dispatches around 350 pallets every day.

Pallets from suppliers enter the AS/RS via a conveyor system. They then go through a checkpoint, and the stacker cranes store them in the racks following orders from Easy WMS. For dispatches, the same operation takes place but in reverse: pallets leave through the conveyor segment enabled for outgoing goods.

In the Nordlogway logistics centre, automation brings high reliability, turnover and speed to the simultaneous inflows and outflows of products.

Movirack mobile racking

“The Movirack mobile racks allow us to expand our storage capacity compared to conventional pallet racking systems. In fact, thanks to these mobile racks, we’ve doubled our storage capacity in the same amount of space,” says Rovira.

Mecalux’s Movirack mobile racking is the only high-density storage system that offers direct access to all the products stored. How? The racks are installed on mobile bases that move laterally on rails. Operators use a remote-control device to select the rack they need to access, and the rest of the racks cascade open, leaving only that working aisle accessible.

“This system houses palletised and industrial goods, raw materials and cardboard packaging,” says Rovira. Once the required aisle is opened, the direct access to the products speeds up operations and makes it easier to locate the items. Likewise, with Movirack mobile racks, several aisles can be open at the same time for performing order picking on the lower levels.

More throughput, same space

“Nordlogway’s facilities are outfitted with the latest and most disruptive technology to help us achieve high returns on our investments and improve the standard of service we offer our customers,” says Rovira.

Nordlogway’s new centre is ready to handle the logistics provider’s growth while optimising its resources. The AS/RS has doubled the company’s productivity. At the same time, its goods allocation strategy has improved with Easy WMS.

The combination of the AS/RS and the Movirack mobile racking has equipped Nordlogway with a highly versatile, integrated logistics solution that meets the needs of all types of customers.

We chose Mecalux as our warehousing systems provider because its solutions enable us to better optimise all our resources, from storage space to personnel.