International meat packer JBS has enlisted a major robotics and automation company to overhaul the warehousing system at one of Canada’s biggest beef plants.
JBS Foods Canada on Friday announced a $71 million project in partnership with New Zealand-based Scott Technology, to design and build a system that can handle and store up to 85,000 boxes of food products at the JBS beef slaughter and processing plant at Brooks, Alta.
The system would manage 600 stock keeping units (SKUs) in a “highly flexible manner, allowing for optimized order management,” and would allow for picking of 3,000 cartons per hour, shipping of 40,300 cartons per day and “high-speed palletizing” of 120-plus pallets per hour.
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The new system would tie into warehouse execution software for “complete monitoring, management and control of goods,” JBS said in a release.
It would replace the plant’s current “fully manual” system and boost the plant’s product handling efficiency through “more flexible, high-speed carton sortation and management.”
JBS Foods Canada president David Colwell, in a release Tuesday, said the project “creates an opportunity to increase efficiency and promote a safe working environment for our team members.”
Scott CEO John Kippenberger described the JBS system as “the largest project of its kind for Scott to date.” The company also said it would be Scott’s first end-to-end materials handling system for a client in the North American market.
Scott, in a separate release on May 31, estimated the value of its contribution to the JBS warehouse project alone at NZ$56 million (about C$45.1 million).
Kippenberger said the new system would “help reduce storage costs and errors, and deliver improved inventory turns, while also improving worker safety, as one box can weigh up to 110 pounds.”
North America, like New Zealand, “continues to experience labour supply issues, particularly in the meat processing space,” he said.
“The new system will not only address this challenge, but it will also improve safety… reduce storage costs (and) errors and deliver improved inventory turns. It represents significant efficiencies and cost savings for JBS Canada.”
The JBS plant at Brooks, about 165 km east of Calgary, is estimated to handle about 3,800 cattle per day at full capacity. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
