Made in Italy kitchens are highly valued and exported worldwide. One of the leading players in this sector is undoubtedly the Marche-based company Lube, which chose Trascar to enhance the efficiency of its production chain. This was achieved through the design, construction, and testing of a high-performance automated warehouse, which for the past five years has ensured the efficient handling of production and shipping flows.
Lube is the leading Italian company in terms of kitchen production and sales volumes, requiring flawless supply chain management. For this reason, the Marche-based group also includes a transport company, ensuring efficient and fast deliveries to its branded retail stores worldwide.
The complex challenge posed by the new automated warehouse at Lube’s production facility, located in the province of Macerata, was taken on by Trascar and successfully overcome thanks to close collaboration with the client, whose needs were fully met. The new system has reduced manual handling of packages by 70% and forklift traffic by 55%. At the same time, it has increased handling capacity and order preparation punctuality, bringing shipping errors down to nearly zero.
Challenge accepted and won.
“We embraced this challenge, and today, in the new automated warehouse we built for Lube, 8 stacker cranes are in operation, each standing 22 meters tall with an 85-meter aisle length. These are equipped with two picking levels and 16 single telescopic forks, capable of handling both small items, such as shelves and panels, and larger ones up to 1.6 meters in length. The total storage capacity reaches up to 15,000 items, with an inbound performance of nearly 800 items per hour and an outbound flow of almost 1,000 items per hour. The warehouse is fed by 4 production lines as well as external commercial products.
The entire storage and parcel sorting system ensures the flow of goods to the 12 truck loading bays, where approximately 400 complete kitchens are shipped daily. The goal was to improve speed and accuracy. Now, all items coming off the production lines are inspected, oriented, and labeled before being transported via overhead conveyors to the automated warehouse. There, a sorter directs the parcels to the respective stacker cranes, which place them on the shelves following a complex storage logic. The system is designed to ensure that all components of a kitchen are placed in a single span to speed up picking times and minimize the possibility of errors. The self-supporting shelving unit features 18 height levels, with parcels dynamically arranged on the shelves based on precise volumetric space calculations. – Matteo Ranuccini, Sales Manager di Trascar S.p.A.
Global and five-year management of all warehouse operations.
The entire system has been designed to be managed by a specific WMS software developed by Trascar based on the customer’s requirements. The IT system meticulously controls the sequence of kitchen units intended for shipment, ensuring the simultaneous management of up to 12 trucks.
The items are directly placed inside the articulated lorries via a set of 12 telescopic conveyors powered by corresponding gravity lines, thus facilitating the loading process for operators.
In addition to the automatic warehouse, the WMS software also manages operations in the various manual warehouses on the Lube production site, as well as the receipt of all third-party appliances and the truck loading verification.
Therefore, the customer always has real-time access to the exact overall warehouse status and can ensure that shipments are made without any order composition errors.
“Lube is synonymous with Italian excellence, and I can only consider myself extremely satisfied with the result and how we, together with the Lube representatives, managed to win this challenge. Building a new system is important, but being able to continue supporting Lube in warehouse management through our customer service makes us proud.” Matteo Ranuccini, Sales Manager di Trascar S,p,A,
