The CSB-System controls the entire value-added chain in the factory from goods receiving, cutting, production planning and control, packaging and labelling of meat and sausages for self-service, stock placement and removal, picking, loading and despatch.
Pork halves and beef quarters
Timo Schaffrath, marketing and communications, CSB-System International told FoodProductionDaily the facility produces up to 650 tons of meat and sausages a day to deliver to 1,250 Edeka stores.
“IT systems enable companies to control and automate the flow of information and materials throughout the entire supply chain so the processes can be cross-linked to maximise efficiencies and eliminate errors,” he said.
“Edeka Südwest Fleisch’s automated processes start from initial receipt of its pork halves and beef quarters. After its in-process control and entry in the CSB-System, the beef quarters are forwarded to track storage and the pork halves are graded using a CSB-Image-Meater.”
Purchased trading goods are received in an area also controlled by the CSB software. Incoming raw materials, auxiliary supplies and operating materials are weighed, submitted to quality checks, and posted directly to the ERP system using MDC (mobile data capture) devices.
With pallet labels attached, the goods are then transported either to the high bay storage, or individual crates are entered at four CSB-Rack workstations and forwarded to a crates storage.
“Six pork cutting lines and two beef cutting lines are used to produce the meat cuts,” added Schaffrath.
Expected sale of items
“The demand for pork halves and beef quarters is determined in a software planning process, which takes into account the complete production process. Based on sales data, the CSB-System calculates the expected sales of items for the respective day.
“Once the primals have been cut according to the preceding calculation, the parts are packed into crates and labelled by the system with all traceability data. This information is retained throughout all the process stages until the meat reaches the consumer.”
The crates are scanned with MDC devices and the software can identify which goods are in which crate. The system uses this information to generate pallet labels with information on each pallet and its contents.
In total, software on 14 packaging lines controls the fully automatic weighing, packaging and labelling of the finished self-service meat products. When planning the meat-processing factory, focus was placed on easy handling and simple operation for employees.
The high bay storage facility installed at the meat factory in Rheinstetten has space for 3,500 pallets and is automatically managed via inventory management. The software controls all processes for stock entry and removal, the shelf loading devices and the conveyors.
Based on customer orders, the system passes the items on to dynamic and static picking, which has been designed for a throughput of approximately 130,000 order line items with a total of 100,000 crates and boxes per day.
The picked goods are forwarded via conveyor to nine trolley loading stations and then to dispatch. The CSB-System provides all the data to load the trolleys. When loading is complete and the trolleys are ready for dispatch, way bills including all order data are attached.
Next, the trolleys are assigned to the respective delivery routes and loaded onto the trucks.