Sinteplast

Challenge

In 1958, the Argentinian company Sinteplast was founded, and today it is the leader in the paint market.

The problems Sinteplast encountered led to the automation of its distribution centre: high saturation in its warehouses with an occupation of 95%, leading to restrictions in both storage capacity and picking.

“We had a free surface area of 3,000m² to expand our warehouse, but if we built it in a conventional way, we could only achieve 4,000 additional locations. If we were to choose an automated storage solution, however, we would have space to store 18,000 pallets in a 40-metre-high warehouse”, said Martin Müller, Planning and Logistics Manager at Sinteplast.

Solution

So Sintelast, together with its partner ULMA Handling Systems, set out to implement a fully automated intralogistics solution.

Finished product inputs to the Sinteplast smart warehouse are managed by an STV (Sorting Transfer Vehicle) system. The automated warehouse consists of 10 aisles, where 5 pallet stacker cranes operate. The stacker cranes can be exchanged between the different aisles thanks to the traverser installed.

Sinteplast has 5 picking stations under the Product to Person concept and is able to pick up to 25 orders simultaneously.

“The system has great flexibility because it works in two subsystems: a pallet subsystem and a plastic basket subsystem, allowing both small and large orders to be attended”, continued Martin Müller. Once the picking is completed in the pallet area, the orders are then consolidated in the plastic basket area, which is managed by a mini-load automated warehouse.

In this subsystem the pallet is completed with the small items to be finally transported to the dispatch area.

Result

Today, with the automation of intralogistics, Sinteplast is able to automate the entire process of receiving and shipping goods for all orders.

Thanks to the intralogistics automation of the Sinteplast facilities, the paint manufacturer has doubled its picking capacity, increasing its delivery capacity from 250,000 litres to 500,000 litres per day.

The automated warehouse and picking solution have allowed for maximum optimisation of storage space and gains in productivity and efficiency in Sinteplast's intralogistics process. In addition, thanks to its scalability and flexible design, the installation allows future extensions to meet Sinteplast’s business growth.

• *This system is designed and delivered by ULMA Handling Systems, a Daifuku official distributor, using Daifuku stacker cranes and STVs as its core. Please note that equipment other than Daifuku products may appear in the text and video.