M
artin’s Famous Pastry
Shoppe, Inc.® (Martin’s®) is a
family owned and operated
bread and roll manufacturer dedicat-
ed to delivering extraordinary taste,
quality and customer service that rep-
resents their legacy of cherished eating
experiences. Since its founding in the
1950s, the company has grown from
a small bakery in the family’s garage
to a global manufacturer serving 16
countries with customers ranging from
retail stores to institutions.
CHALLENGE
As the producer of the No. 1 branded
hamburger bun in the United States,
the Chambersburg, Pennsylvania bak-
ery experienced a significant impact
from the seasonality of hamburger and
hot dog roll sales throughout the sum-
mer months. The company’s current
manual order preparation and ful-
fillment process was time consuming
and labor intensive. As a result, they
were struggling with space constraints
in their warehouse, order fulfillment
errors and employee safety.
SOLUTION
Martin’s® decided to turn to automa-
tion and chose Westfalia Technologies,
Inc.’s (Westfalia) automated storage
and retrieval system (AS/RS) design,
which included an automated layer
picking system and truck staging lanes.
The company conducted extensive
research and site visits to the manu-
facturing facility as well as customer
installations in order to evaluate the
strength of potential suppliers.
Westfalia’s high-density AS/RS stores
pallets of reserve product in a rack
structure six pallets deep, housing ap-
proximately 2,000 pallets. Two tandem
storage and retrieval machines (S/
RMs), with independent movable cabs
for safer and easier maintenance, store
and retrieve pallets to and from the
rack structure. The AS/RS is integrat-
ed with Cimcorp’s MultiPick System,
a fully automated, robotic material
handling solution, picking system, as
well as Westfalia’s out-feed conveyor
system. This combination enables the
fast fulfillment of single and multi-
SKU orders.
Westfalia’s Savanna.NET® WES orches-
trates the entire operation, maintain-
ing the inventory in both the AS/RS
and the MultiPick system. In order to
increase order accuracy and product
traceability, the WES is integrated with
Martin’s® order processing and enter-
prise systems.
Dan Labell, president, Westfalia
Technologies, said, “With a growing,
diverse number of SKUs, seasonal
products, and complex orders, food
manufacturers can more effective-
ly manage and track inventory with
automation technology. Westfalia’s AS/
RS, integrated with our Savanna.NET®
WES, has helped Martin’s® achieve
these benefits, while providing addi-
tional operational efficiencies, cost
savings, and a competitive advantage.”
RESULTS
With Westfalia’s AS/RS and Savanna.
NET® WES, Martin’s® Chambersburg,
Pennsylvania facility has increased its
space utilization by 50 percent and is
more efficiently storing, retrieving and
managing pallets of finished goods.
The automated layer pick solution has
improved labor efficiency by 50 per-
cent, while ensuring 95 percent order
accuracy. Since the system allows the
company to take orders up until the
last minute with complete accuracy,
it has eliminated the need for reloads
www.WestfaliaUSA.com
– dramatically increasing throughput
times for outbound orders. In addition,
the new system provides Martin’s® with
a complete visibility that enables the
company to conduct field to fork trace-
ability that exceeds FDA standards.”
“Since the installation of the AS/RS, we
have been able to complete full pallet
orders with greater efficiency than ever
before with fewer physical demands on
our warehouse staff,” said Tony Mar-
tin, executive vice president, Martin’s®.
“Based on the safety and efficiency
gains achieved, we are considering
similar systems for our other bakery.”
SYSTEM FEATURES:
Technology:
•
•
•
•
High-density AS/RS
Savanna.NET® Warehouse
Execution System
2 tandem S/RM using Satellite®
technology
Automated layer picking system
Size:
•
•
AS/RS occupies 15,250 sq. ft. of the
55,520 sq. ft. warehouse
5 outbound staging lanes
Capacity:
•
•
•
1,873 pallet rack positions
Truck staging lanes, holding up to
54 pallets
Induct/output 101 pallets per hour
per S/RM
System Benefits:
•
•
•
Increased order accuracy
Improved outbound order accu-
racy
Increased throughput times for
outbound orders
The Satellite Review
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