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Technology
and quality
in 25,000 m2
Carreras Group is one of the longest-established
logistics firms in Spain. Its prestige lies in technology
and quality, together with a large network of offices all
over Spain and Europe. It has recently opened its
second facility in the central area of Spain, in Seseña
(Toledo), the company’s sixteenth warehouse on the
Iberian Peninsula.
or management at Carreras, the market trends are clear: there is everincreasing demand for smaller freight
load dispatch, with greater capillarity and frequency of deliveries. Demand is also emerging
for the delivery of whole pallet-loads within
smaller freight deliveries (one, two or three pallets), with the consequent requirement of
setting up consolidation centres from where
pallets are picked up after being consolidated
for dispatch to other locations.
F
In the face of these changes, Carreras recently
opened a centre with 25,000 m2 of conventional warehousing, together with a cold storage
chamber of 6,000 m2 (72,000 m3).
The building, divided into three sections, is
12 m high and has a goods storage capacity of
36,000 pallets, of which 9,000 are in the temperature-controlled storage area at 18 ºC to
preserve specific products, such as those that
could melt if exposed to heat.
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Technology
partner
According to its management, Carreras
Group works on the proposition of
service to other companies as a
technology partner. And this is
achieved thanks not only to its
transport and warehousing network,
but also through its powerful, hi-tech
equipment and constant concern for its
quality. The Group carries out all of its
computer operations for Europe from
two data centres located in Zaragoza,
physically separate from each other
with the aim of greater security in data
recuperation in case of a calamitous
event.
In order to achieve good tolerance to
failure, production and service systems
are made up of master-slave couplings.
Additionally, both communications
and services have self-balance capacity
incorporated (for systems to function
with greater reliability and agility), and a
strict manual monitoring protocol to be
followed at all times for production
swings.
Software and traceability
With regard to equipment, two
synchronised IBM RS6000 servers are
used for data bases and a cluster – a
group of computers working in a
network – for running applications
developed in Java. This equipment is
used by the national and international
transport division, while the
warehousing and distribution division
use two synchronised IBM AS400
servers housing the data bases and Java
applications. Communication between
this division office and head office is
made by means of high-capacity frame
relay lines supported by other back up
lines. For client-related operations, the
Group makes use of CRM software. For
traceability, besides the fact that the
warehousing and distribution division
software supports all management via
RF in all manipulation processes,
on-board computers are being installed
in the fleet connected to head office
via GPRS.
Functions
The facility was designed with three purposes
in mind. Firstly, it is a regulating centre for all of
Spain and goods destined for Portugal. This
activity involves stock supplied by users, and
deliveries are made under their orders. The
second purpose is to operate as a pallet management service, i.e. reception, storage and
dispatch of full pallets, without intermediate
handling. And thirdly, it operates as a crossdocking platform for local distribution of goods
coming from the company’s other regulating
centres, such as those in Barcelona, Zaragoza
and Bilbao.
going a process of information systems security certification. The Carreras infrastructure
operates with a single system centralised in
Zaragoza, at the Group’s Head Office. The
system not only satisfies all of clients’ needs,
but also operates in a standard way with the
same operating system for all warehouses,
allowing easy integration of new facilities and
creating a single IT management structure.
Communication works with RF, meaning that
paper is not used in the operating system.
Moreover, there is a single database, updated
in real time, with client access to its information, as desired, through the website.
The functioning of this third operation involves
receiving a bulk delivery at the centre. There it
undergoes capillary distribution (deconsolidation and distribution) bypassing storage racks,
e.g. if a partial truckload of one product arrives
from Barcelona for distribution in Madrid, the
pallet is broken down and the orders are
prepared on the spot, without the need for previous storage on upper racks. Each day some
40 trucks supply the facility, and the same
number leave on dispatch missions. In addition, another fleet of local, capillary distribution
vehicles is used.
The computer system offers flexible viewing.
As an example, clients can consult stock of
their product in one or several warehouses, or
in all of the warehouses where their goods are
located. According to the company’s management, the website offers complete transparency over the data stored in the database and
which is transferred to the website in real time.
All information in our database is backed up in
a separate facility and we are currently in the
process of contracting co-location services in
which specialist IT companies ensure that
equipment is in the best conditions of reliability
and security. For internal management, the
Group possesses a robust computer and communications system and makes use of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software to
unify process and production management in
all Carreras offices across Europe.
Management system communication with
clients can work in two ways: either by means
of our systems integrating with theirs, or
through the use of market standards such
as those developed by AECOC (Spanish
Commercial Encoding Society). With regard
to communication with vehicles, on-board
computers are presently being installed in the
Carreras Group fleet.
Logistics IT
The integration of this centre into the Group’s
network is being carried out with the help of
high-level technology that is currently under-
Among its other purposes, the
centre operates as a pallet
management service, i.e.
reception, storage and dispatch
of full pallets, without
intermediate handling.
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The system not only satisfies all of client’s needs, but it allows easy integration
of new facilities and creates a single IT structure
The total surface area
of the Carreras Group
logistics facilities is
220,000 m2.
Seseña operation procedures
The technology in place at Carreras confers
great versatility to its facilities where design
plays an important part to offer better storage
efficiency. The Carreras centre in Seseña consists of one 184 m-long building, divided into
four compartments or sectors, three of which
fitted out with racking. There are 32 racks per
sector laid out in two blocks of 16 each and
arranged in seven double and two single rows
(eight aisles 3,125 mm wide with guards),
making a total of 96 racks. Half of these comprise 15 bays, and the other half has 16. Each
of the bays is 2,700 mm long by 1,100 mm
deep and a holding capacity for three pallets.
Each rack is made up of six levels, reaching a
height of 10.5 m, and leaving room for a final
load on the sixth level, seeing that the roof is
12 m above the floor.
Opposite the picking and manipulation area
there is a goods reception area. This is carried
Security
measures
Conservation of goods is not only a
question of the conditions in which they
are kept, but also care for their integrity.
This includes both risk of accident – fire –
as well as those events where persons
could be involved (knocks,
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out through one of 26 loading bays, after which
the operating process begins. Once past the
inspection of state of goods on arrival, and after
corresponding quality controls have been
made, the pallets are identified, depending on
the established procedures. There are clients
who give notice of the arrival of goods, while
others take goods directly without prior issuing
of a dispatch note. This flexibility is not a problem for the warehouse. There is a procedure
for inclusion of unexpected deliveries into facility processes.
Distribution order
The bays and loading and unloading areas
have a routine order of use. As the centre is
open 24 hours a day, goods are mainly received in the morning. In the afternoon/
evening, goods with long-distance destinations are sent for arrival the next morning, while
vehicles carrying out following-day deliveries
are loaded at night.
manipulation, and in extreme cases,
theft). Measures adopted in Carreras
facilities comply with fire detection and
prevention standards. As an example,
passageways have been established
halfway along each rack, which, together
with the aisles formed by the racking,
allow persons to find an exit
perpendicular to the stored goods every
21 m, approximately. Additionally, there is
24 hour-surveillance and there is system
of CCTV cameras inside the facility to
supervise activity and operations, and
outside to support prevention tasks.
Regardless of how goods are received or how
they are identified at origin, Carreras undertakes its own labelling process which includes
all the information necessary for later traceability control, from pallet content to use-by date,
batch no., best before date, etc. After identification, the next step is placement of pallets,
controlled by an order that arrives at the operator's workstation when a label is scanned.
Chaotic storage
The warehouse is chaotic, but for practical purposes, the management software is parameterised to group goods together in areas assigned
to clients. This ordering does not take into account the extensive rules governing placement
on racks because it is not necessary.
This contrasts with the rules used in the picking stage, an operation in which it is essential to
have variables like weight, volume, and shape
when preparing order pallets. Thanks to these
rules, prepared goods are easy to identify
without need for handling, and are transferred
with guarantees of their being intact; for
example heavy boxes with jars of conserves
are prevented from being placed over packets
of biscuits that can be easily crushed.
Picking is carried out by operators near the
racks where the product for collection is
stored. RF terminals are used by operators to
communicate with the computer system,
which in the case of picking operators are barcode scanners with RF support. By means of
the terminal, the computer system shows the
operator the reference and quantity of the product to be prepared at all times.
Automation with limits
While this automated system allows optimum
resource management, not everything is automated. The warehouse manager, depending
on available staff and equipment, has authority and flexibility in designating the tasks to be
carried out at all times. Likewise, it can be de-
cided whether goods should be taken out as
far as the picking and manipulation area or left
directly in the loading bay. Goods are moved
with the help of 9 pallet trucks, 4 forklift trucks
and 23 seated rider pallet trucks.
Technology always controls the movement of
the load that these stacking machines carry, as
well as the orders associated with the goods,
whether initiated by the computer system or
given by the warehouse manager. In this way,
there is constant traceability at all times and
clients can know the state of their order dispatch in real time by Internet. #
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conventional pallet racks / CARRERAS GROUP
Technical details
Height of racks: 10,500 mm
Length of racks:
42,200 mm and 45,200 mm
Width of racks:
1,100 mm. Those arranged back to
back give a total width of 2,400 mm
No. of racks: 96
Load levels: 6
Bays per rack: 15 and 16
Length of each bay:
2,700 mm
Capacity per space: 3 pallets
No. of aisles:
3,280 mm with guard
and 3,330 mm without guard
Unit load: 800 x 1,200 / 1,300 /
1,850 / 1,950 / 2,400 mm pallets
Maximum weight: 1,000 kg
Total capacity: 27,000 pallets
42,200 mm
10,500 mm
45,200 mm
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