As business blossomed, the California citrus packer began experiencing bottlenecks in its packing operations. A sophisticated automated palletizing system cleared the jam.
David Maloney has been a journalist for more than 35 years and is currently the group editorial director for DC Velocity and Supply Chain Quarterly magazines. In this role, he is responsible for the editorial content of both brands of Agile Business Media. Dave joined DC Velocity in April of 2004. Prior to that, he was a senior editor for Modern Materials Handling magazine. Dave also has extensive experience as a broadcast journalist. Before writing for supply chain publications, he was a journalist, television producer and director in Pittsburgh. Dave combines a background of reporting on logistics with his video production experience to bring new opportunities to DC Velocity readers, including web videos highlighting top distribution and logistics facilities, webcasts and other cross-media projects. He continues to live and work in the Pittsburgh area.
Situated in the heart of Central California's orange- and lemon-growing region, Bee Sweet Citrus specializes in packing and shipping California citrus, supplying customers around the world with oranges, lemons, grapefruit, mandarins, and the like. Since its founding in 1987, the business has blossomed from a startup operation that handled 10,000 cartons a year to one that now handles 10 million.
But the story hasn't been all sweetness and light. In 2016, for example, it became clear that things were starting to sour at the company's 400,000-square-foot facility in Fowler, Calif., which provides cold storage, packing, and distribution services for customers like grocery stores and big-box retailers. To be specific, the company was encountering bottlenecks at the ends of its packing lines—bottlenecks that were putting the squeeze on its operations.
This Alvey 910 series high-speed in-line palletizing system is one of two that Bee Sweet uses to handle its varied product offerings.
At the time, cases of citrus were being palletized by hand after they were packed. That required a lot of heavy lifting on the part of workers—the facility handles some 50,000 cases daily during peak seasons, with each case weighing around 40 pounds. It wasn't unusual for work to fall behind in the manual palletizing area, creating slowdowns further upstream or even bringing activity to a halt.
The pressure to perform under these conditions took a toll on morale. "We had a lot of turnover before as a result of the pace of our stacking, and it was a lot of lifting for our people," says Thomas Marderosian, industrial technology manager at Bee Sweet Citrus.
To solve the problem, Bee Sweet began looking into options for automated palletizing. But it knew from the start that finding the right solution wouldn't be easy. Because of its diverse product offering, the company needed a system that could handle more than just the most common sized cartons and packaging. Instead, it needed a system with the flexibility to handle a wide variety of citrus products, carton sizes, and stacking arrangements—and do it all quickly and efficiently.
Although it required a lengthy search, the company eventually found exactly what it was seeking. After a competitive bid process, it chose a solution from Honeywell Intelligrated that consists of two Alvey 910 series high-speed in-line palletizing systems, an accumulation area, and automated stretch wrappers supplied by Orion.
ORCHARD ORCHESTRATION
Processing at Bee Sweet Citrus starts with local growers delivering fruit to the Fowler facility, which processes about 3,500 bin loads of oranges, lemons, mandarins, grapefruit, and other citrus each day. Each bin measures 48 by 48 by 28 inches and weighs about 900 pounds. Upon arrival, much of the fruit goes directly into temporary storage, where the citrus spends time "de-greening."
When the fruit has ripened, the bins are taken to processing. Here, they are gently emptied onto lines for washing and initial sorting by size and grade—a process carried out using both automated equipment and visual inspection. During peak seasons, the facility is capable of processing 14 different varieties of fruit at the same time. After the initial sorting, the fruit is further sorted according to industry standards pertaining to fruit size, shape, and sweetness. Higher-graded fruits then move on to a packing area, while lower-graded and blemished fruits are sent to other facilities that produce juice. Damaged fruit is sent to companies that make animal feed.
Once they arrive in packing, the higher-grade fruits are placed into cartons, bins, or bags. Some varieties are packed using automated equipment, while others are packed manually, depending on type and customer preference. Once the packing is completed, three conveyor lines move the products to an adjacent building for palletizing.
The palletizing building contains two complete automated palletizing systems that work independently of each other—one equipped with three delivery magazines and the other with two. The palletizers are designed for optimal flexibility and can handle 95 percent of the varieties of citrus processed by Bee Sweet. They can also accommodate six different packaging types, including industry-standard 40-pound cartons, open-top nested trays, telescopic cases, reusable plastic containers, and euro cartons, as well as a variety of pallet sizes. On top of that, the system can handle 29 different stacking patterns to accommodate variations in case size and pallet footprint.
In addition to the two automated palletizers, the building also houses a manual palletizing operation. Currently, about 80 percent of total volume is palletized by the automated equipment, with manual handling reserved for items like odd-shaped boxes or partial pallet loads.
Cases bound for the automated palletizing area pass through scan tunnels before being sorted and sent to one of the palletizers.
Cases bound for the automated palletizing area enter the 31,140-square-foot palletizing building on a mezzanine level. After passing through scan tunnels, the cases move in-line to one of two Honeywell Intelligrated-supplied IntelliSort sliding-shoe sorters, each of which feeds one of the palletizers. Shoes on each sorter automatically slide across the conveying surface to divert products to 28 accumulation lanes used to gather cases. Cases remain in the accumulation lane until the full number required to build a pallet load have been gathered. Once all the cases have been collected, they're conveyed single file from the mezzanine to the floor level of the building, where the palletizers reside.
As cases enter the palletizer system, a series of wheels turn to adjust the cases' orientation as well as position them left or right so that they slide into specific positions to create a single pallet layer. The number of cases in a layer varies according to pallet and case size. For example, it takes nine of the standard 40-pound cartons (the industry standard) to form a layer on a 40- by 48-inch pallet.
This view of one of the palletizers from above shows the layout of the area.
Once a layer is built, the palletizer uses a pusher to gently slide it off onto a pallet. It then begins building the next layer. To assure a stable stack, the cases alternate their orientation from one layer to the next, much the way bricklayers set blocks into a brick wall. When the new layer is complete, the system lowers the pallet to allow space for the new layer to be pushed off onto the previous layer. The process continues until a full pallet is built. While that might sound like a time-consuming operation, it actually takes place in seconds. Each of the Alvey 910 systems is designed to palletize up to 125 cases per minute.
Completed pallets then move via conveyor to workers who manually add corner boards to protect the loads during shipping as well as pallet identification tags for tracking purposes. The pallets are next sent to one of two automated stretch wrappers, with each of the palletizers feeding one stretch wrapper. The loads are wrapped for stability and then discharged onto holding lanes.
Forklifts next gather the pallets and take them to temporary cold storage, where they are staged for a few hours before being loaded onto trucks. Some 125 loaded trucks leave the facility daily.
SWEETER RESULTS
Bee Sweet Citrus has stacked up some solid benefits from moving to the new automated palletizing system. To begin with, work no longer backs up because palletizing is unable to keep pace with production.
"It has made a tremendous change to our operations," says Marderosian. "Before, it was stop and go. Now, we have a consistent flow." He adds that simply eliminating the bottlenecks has allowed the company to move more volume through its packing areas and overall operate more efficiently.
Marderosian also reports that the facility has seen a significant reduction in the labor required for its palletizing operations. And because there's less need for repetitive lifting of heavy cartons, associates experience fewer workplace injuries. On top of that, the constant pressure to keep up with the rest of the operation has eased, creating a more pleasant work environment. Employee turnover has dropped as a result.
The benefits don't end there. The operation has seen advantages with respect to sanitation and accuracy as well. For instance, in an operation where food safety is always a concern, the automated palletizers have cut down on the number of human touches required in processing, while simultaneously ensuring that the right case is placed on the right pallet. This has enhanced the company's tracking and tracing capabilities.
Lastly, customers see more solidly built loads coming from the facility, which helps prevent damage in transit. "The system builds a better, straighter load," says Marderosian. He adds that Bee Sweet Citrus is considering the addition of a third automated palletizer system as future volumes dictate.
Supply chain planning (SCP) leaders working on transformation efforts are focused on two major high-impact technology trends, including composite AI and supply chain data governance, according to a study from Gartner, Inc.
"SCP leaders are in the process of developing transformation roadmaps that will prioritize delivering on advanced decision intelligence and automated decision making," Eva Dawkins, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Composite AI, which is the combined application of different AI techniques to improve learning efficiency, will drive the optimization and automation of many planning activities at scale, while supply chain data governance is the foundational key for digital transformation.”
Their pursuit of those roadmaps is often complicated by frequent disruptions and the rapid pace of technological innovation. But Gartner says those leaders can accelerate the realized value of technology investments by facilitating a shift from IT-led to business-led digital leadership, with SCP leaders taking ownership of multidisciplinary teams to advance business operations, channels and products.
“A sound data governance strategy supports advanced technologies, such as composite AI, while also facilitating collaboration throughout the supply chain technology ecosystem,” said Dawkins. “Without attention to data governance, SCP leaders will likely struggle to achieve their expected ROI on key technology investments.”
The British logistics robot vendor Dexory this week said it has raised $80 million in venture funding to support an expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered features, grow its global team, and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous robots.
A “significant focus” continues to be on expanding across the U.S. market, where Dexory is live with customers in seven states and last month opened a U.S. headquarters in Nashville. The Series B will also enhance development and production facilities at its UK headquarters, the firm said.
The “series B” funding round was led by DTCP, with participation from Latitude Ventures, Wave-X and Bootstrap Europe, along with existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic, and several angels from the logistics industry. With the close of the round, Dexory has now raised $120 million over the past three years.
Dexory says its product, DexoryView, provides real-time visibility across warehouses of any size through its autonomous mobile robots and AI. The rolling bots use sensor and image data and continuous data collection to perform rapid warehouse scans and create digital twins of warehouse spaces, allowing for optimized performance and future scenario simulations.
Originally announced in September, the move will allow Deutsche Bahn to “fully focus on restructuring the rail infrastructure in Germany and providing climate-friendly passenger and freight transport operations in Germany and Europe,” Werner Gatzer, Chairman of the DB Supervisory Board, said in a release.
For its purchase price, DSV gains an organization with around 72,700 employees at over 1,850 locations. The new owner says it plans to investment around one billion euros in coming years to promote additional growth in German operations. Together, DSV and Schenker will have a combined workforce of approximately 147,000 employees in more than 90 countries, earning pro forma revenue of approximately $43.3 billion (based on 2023 numbers), DSV said.
After removing that unit, Deutsche Bahn retains its core business called the “Systemverbund Bahn,” which includes passenger transport activities in Germany, rail freight activities, operational service units, and railroad infrastructure companies. The DB Group, headquartered in Berlin, employs around 340,000 people.
“We have set clear goals to structurally modernize Deutsche Bahn in the areas of infrastructure, operations and profitability and focus on the core business. The proceeds from the sale will significantly reduce DB’s debt and thus make an important contribution to the financial stability of the DB Group. At the same time, DB Schenker will gain a strong strategic owner in DSV,” Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz said in a release.
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.
Serious inland flooding and widespread power outages are likely to sweep across Florida and other Southeast states in coming days with the arrival of Hurricane Helene, which is now predicted to make landfall Thursday evening along Florida’s northwest coast as a major hurricane, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
While the most catastrophic landfall impact is expected in the sparsely-population Big Bend area of Florida, it’s not only sea-front cities that are at risk. Since Helene is an “unusually large storm,” its flooding, rainfall, and high winds won’t be limited only to the Gulf Coast, but are expected to travel hundreds of miles inland, the weather service said. Heavy rainfall is expected to begin in the region even before the storm comes ashore, and the wet conditions will continue to move northward into the southern Appalachians region through Friday, dumping storm total rainfall amounts of up to 18 inches. Specifically, the major flood risk includes the urban areas around Tallahassee, metro Atlanta, and western North Carolina.
In addition to its human toll, the storm could exert serious business impacts, according to the supply chain mapping and monitoring firm Resilinc. Those will be largely triggered by significant flooding, which could halt oil operations, force mandatory evacuations, restrict ports, and disrupt air traffic.
While the storm’s track is currently forecast to miss the critical ports of Miami and New Orleans, it could still hurt operations throughout the Southeast agricultural belt, which produces products like soybeans, cotton, peanuts, corn, and tobacco, according to Everstream Analytics.
That widespread footprint could also hinder supply chain and logistics flows along stretches of interstate highways I-10 and I-75 and on regional rail lines operated by Norfolk Southern and CSX. And Hurricane Helene could also likely impact business operations by unleashing power outages, deep flooding, and wind damage in northern Florida portions of Georgia, Everstream Analytics said.
Before the storm had even touched Florida soil, recovery efforts were already being launched by humanitarian aid group the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN). In a statement on Wednesday, the group said it is urging residents in the storm's path across the Southeast to heed evacuation notices and safety advisories, and reminding members of the logistics community that their post-storm help could be needed soon. The group will continue to update its Disaster Micro-Site with Hurricane Helene resources and with requests for donated logistics assistance, most of which will start arriving within 24 to 72 hours after the storm’s initial landfall, ALAN said.