Carlsberg improves the quality of operations in its distribution centre with the new warehouse system that uses Datalogic™ 6000 family of industrial readers.
Carlsberg Breweries was founded in 1847 by the visionary brewer J.C. Jacobsen in Copenhagen, Denmark. Today it is an international company, that operates in more than 40 countries and has over 31,500 employees worldwide. Its primary focus is on the production, sale and marketing of beer, with secondary activities in soft drink and water production.
Carlsberg Breweries is committed to running an ethically and environmentally sound business. As a part of this commitment, it chooses partners and suppliers that also live up to the same standard. Therefore, when Carlsberg decided that they needed a new, more efficient scanning system in their distribution centre in Bromma, Sweden, they looked no further than to their current scanner supplier Datalogic. The forklift scanners that they then used were Datalogic’s old DS45 fixed position scanners. But because of the new EU-standard regarding tracking of food back from the consumer to the producer, a new warehouse system was needed. For this, Carlsberg turned to MA-System, one of Scandinavia’s leading software and consulting companies in logistics, and decided to implement their warehouse system, Astro. With the new system, everything was to be handled and stored in terms of batches. This meant that a new label format with EAN codes was required. In turn, new scanner were necessary.
The warehouse in Bromma is 40,000 square meters in size and is divided into two floors. There are approximately 800,000 units of product stored on 30,000 pallets in this, one of two warehouses that Carlsberg has in Sweden. Approximately 5,000 pallets are handled each day by 20 forklifts; 14 double-fork and 6 single-fork forklifts. Because of the size and layout of the warehouse, it would be next to impossible to find a specific pallet without having terminals mounted on the fork-lifts. The double-fork forklifts had previously been equipped with two scanners each – essentially one scanner per label. This was necessary since due to the height and width of each pallet of product, a large reading area must be covered. The Datalogic DS6400 fixed position industrial bar code reader with oscillating mirror was identified as the perfect scanner for this application, since its reading area is one of the largest on the market. In this situation it can read an area that is 1,400 mm wide and 700 mm high. In addition, each label has three bar codes that must be read. When taking into consideration two pallets, this means six barcodes that must be read and sent in the right order. Because of its unique and advanced software, the DS6400 with oscillating mirror was the right choice to manage this.
The DS6400 sits on the double forklift between the two forks where it is protected from the bumps and bruises that one situated more in the open is inclined to receive. The oscillating mirror casts the laser up and down over the pallets allowing the labels to be read while the forklift approaches.
The single forklifts have been equipped with Datalogic’s DS6300. This scanner was the obvious choice because of its similarity to the DS6400. It runs with the same software and can also sit directly on the forklift.
Quality is an essential prerequisite for Carlsberg’s success, and something on which the company will never make compromises. Now with this solution even the quality of operations in the distribution centre has been improved.
Magnus Österlind with Carlsberg in Bromma is happy with the new system. “The new scanners with the oscillating mirror read the labels much better that the previous scanners. Before, we had a lot of problems reading the labels due to the placement of the labels on the pallets. With the new scanners, it doesn’t matter where the label is, it gets read. It’s great!”
Magnus Österlind
Carlsberg in Bromma
