Two clad-rack warehouse for San Benedetto’s non-alcoholic drinks

About San Benedetto

San Benedetto is an Italian business specialised in alcohol-free drinks production. Its product catalogue includes both carbonated and non-carbonated mineral water, flavoured waters, teas, juices, isotonic sports drinks and soft drinks.

In 1997, the company moved to Spain and built its production centre in the town of San Antonio de Requena (Valencia), next to two mineral springs: the Primavera, i.e. the “Springtime” spring, and the Fuencisla spring. The production plant set up shop in a strategic location, with direct access to one of the main national motorways which means it can supply its customers along the Mediterranean and those in Central Spain quickly.

Needs and the solution

San Benedetto is one of the top Spanish companies and its beverages are present in all sales channels and large distribution chains of the country. In the last few years, it has made an enormous investment in deploying cutting-edge technology in all its production processes. As a result of this effort, it has increased its sales and strengthened its market position.

Currently, it produces more than 1,000 million bottles and sells around 932 million litres of alcohol-free drinks. It has always collaborated with Mecalux when it comes to dealing with this huge production, as well as future growth prospects. Through Mecalux’s guidance, the company has carried out projects that have improved its logistics and which adjusted to its ever-changing needs.

Between 2002 and 2003, Mecalux initially built two 9.5 m clad-rack warehouses with the high-density drive-in system and a storage capacity of more than 15,000 pallets.

However, the space was too small to house the steady rise in production. For this reason, in 2008, San Benedetto hired Mecalux to build a new clad-rack warehouse similar to the previous two in terms of features (although, in this case, with live pallet racking).

Clad-rack construction

Clad-rack warehouses are buildings that make full use of the available surface area and the height of the building to yield a higher storage capacity.

They comprise racks that withstand their own weight, the stored commodity, as well as the lateral and roof cladding. Likewise, the racks hold the ventilation system ducts, the lighting and the pipework.

The team had to consider certain factors, to design this style of installation, factors that would interact with the rack structure. For example, the force of the wind, the degree of seismic activity corresponding to the area where the system would be installed and the national construction regulations in force.

Live racking

The live racks are made of sets of channels that on a 4% incline, that facilitate correct gravity flows of the pallets from the highest point (inputs) to the lowest (outputs).

The block of racks stands 11 m high, with four storage levels, and runs 50 m long. They comprise 164, 20 m-deep channels that can house up to 16 pallets. In total, the storage capacity is 2,624 pallets. This solution accelerates loading and unloading flows, i.e. for the goods, while also guaranteeing a steady stream of products. Operator handling is kept at a minimum, who must only insert and extract pallets from their corresponding locations.

The aisle where pallet extractions are done coincides with the dispatch area. With this setup, lorries can be loaded directly from the racks without any need for pre-loading.

Advantages for San Benedetto

• Huge numbers of locations: the clad-rack warehouse makes full use of the surface area to reach a 2,624 pallet capacity.
• Productivity boost: both the loading and unloading of products is done quickly and without interference from either operation.
• Perfect rotation of goods: the racks make product rotation possible through the FIFO order fulfilment method.