Turnkey handling solution

With transport being a key component of Coca-Cola Amatil's distribution system, ICA was commissioned to design and manufacture, as well as implement, loading and unloading facilities at two beverage operation sites in Victoria.

Installations were undertaken at both the existing production facility, located in Moorabbin, and the new distribution warehouse in Mentone.

With constant product-to-market demand, Coca Cola's requirements were for a system that could pre-arrange product to conform to transportation requirements and load/unload palletised product in an efficient and reliable way, as well as reduce time and handling costs associated with existing/standard practices.

What also had to be taken into consideration was that the client would be serving all types of businesses with huge variations in delivery quantities: ranging from the largest supermarket chains down to the local grocery stores.

ICA believes that, until recently, Coca-Cola would most likely have approached a foreign company to design, manufacture and implement such a sophisticated system.

By being local though, ICA was able to significantly reduce the turnaround time compared to what an offshore supplier could deliver.

A requirement was set for reduced handling associated with trailer loading and unloading to and from production and storage facilities throughout the state of Victoria. Less handling means a better return per truck trip. With the two depots having the capacity to load and unload on a 24/7 basis, this should result in significant returns over the course of each financial year.

The project idea was to automate docks so virtually no handling is involved. Expensive forklifts are not used as a mechanism performs all the loading and unloading, thereby eliminating all occupational health and safety issues associated with manual handling.

The software link between both depots is in real-time so that plant management is kept constantly up-to-date with quantities of product movement.

ICA designed, manufactured and implemented two types of docks - Route Docks and General Docks - to meet schedules servicing local small businesses as well as supermarket chains.

Route Docks operate using a specially designed air skate system that engages with a specialised flat-floor trailer configuration with in-built air guide rails for the loading of product. With the General Docks, a chain conveyor system combined with an air-operated powered chain floor trailer facilitates both loading and unloading of product.

The docks receive product from an automated conveyor-driven delivery system that rapidly forms the pallets into complete pre-arranged trailer loads, allowing trailers to be loaded in a turnaround time of two to three minutes.

Productivity is improved as the pre-arranged forming of a complete load actually takes place before the transport vehicle has arrived to collect the load.

The system is faster than the traditional method of reversing an empty truck into the dock, using expensive and potentially dangerous forklifts to load the truck pallet by pallet, then checking off the paperwork before delivery starts.