Food & Drink Processing & Packaging Issue 50 2024 | Page 38

Keep the drinks flowing

Warehouse efficiency is vital in a dynamic market such as beverages , where flexible storage and picking is necessary to deliver operational efficiency – particularly during peaks .
Challenging times for the beverage sector
The beverage sector has undergone challenging times due to turbulent macro-economic events that are driving rises in materials prices and contributing to inflationary pressures amidst a cost of living
38 FDPP - www . fdpp . co . uk crisis . Doing what it can to protect customers against price rises , the beverage businesses are seeking efficiency within their intralogistics operations . Finding ways to improve these processes can give a retailer , wholesaler or producer an enormous boost .
Improved stock availability Process improvement is a reason why BITO is seeing live storage for pallets or cases – with its inherent space-saving and First-In , First- Out ( FIFO ) characteristics – fast becoming a preferred solution for fast moving goods , overtaking conventional pallet racking .
These systems use gravity and inclined roller lanes that allow cartons and pallets to move smoothly from the loading to the retrieval position , offering enormous efficiency benefits compared to static pallet racking . As soon as a beverage case or pallet has been picked , the other cases or pallets in that lane move forward so that order pickers ,