Eight agrochemical product warehouses of Bravo in Brazil

Eight agrochemical product warehouses of Bravo in Brazil

Direct access to manage the agrochemical products of Bravo

Bravo logo

Union means strength. The agrochemical logistics operator Bravo had the backing of Interlake Mecalux when it came to equipping its new warehouse in the town of Cuiabá (Brazil). To this effect, there are already eight Bravo logistics centers with Interlake Mecalux storage solutions. Selective pallet racks were the chosen rack in all of them because they facilitate the management of colossal pallet flow volumes that take place each day.

  • Pictures
  • Pallet racks for Bravo's agrochemical products
    Access is crucial in order to manage pesticides safely
    The racks fill almost the entire surface area of the warehouses
    Interlake Mecalux and Bravo have ongoing collaboration when equipping eight centers
    The agrochemical products are managed as per the FIFO principle
  • Technical Specifications

Vicinity and growth

Bravo is a logistics operator who specializes in the storage and distribution of agrochemicals. In other words, chemical substances used to repel, kill, attract, regulate or stop the growth or spread of pests on farmland.

Bravo has long-standing experience managing this type of product (it works for brands like Syngenta, Bayer, Arysta, Rotam, FMC, UPL, DOW or DuPont, among others). According to Elimar Elesbon Soares, the company’s operations director, “we listened closely to our customers’ needs and set up shop as close as was feasibly possible to them to streamline deliveries and be more competitive.”

In the fields, farmers monitor all phases of crop growth very closely. In each one of these stages, they need specific products that ensure agricultural development of food crops. “When it is time to spray a certain pesticide, this product’s demand goes through the roof very briefly, which reduces our response times dramatically,” explains Bravo’s operations director. “That is why our strategy is to set up our warehouses close to the country’s main agricultural areas and to make deliveries to customers on the double.”

Bravo has flourished from its beginnings. “Our business vision has driven our expansion and because customers have asked us to be close by,” points out Elimar Elesbon Soares. “In all our warehouses, we knew very clearly that we had to reduce operational overhead and trim delivery times,” he adds.

Overall, the company owns and operates fourteen warehouses spread all over Brazilian territory. Eight of these are equipped with pallet racks from Interlake Mecalux. “We trust Interlake Mecalux because of its logistics know-how and because it is a global leader in the sector. Its product quality leads the pack. Interlake Mecalux is a partner which, in all our projects, has really understood our business needs and how urgent it was to get racks up and running.”

Daily, the warehouse receives goods from customer production plants and, later, distributes them to cultivated fields. Some of these pallets are also sent to rural or agricultural goods stores. “Between February and August, we receive more inflowing products. In contrast, January is when we distribute the most,” adds Elimar Elesbon Soares.

Practicality made selective pallet racks the right choice for all the warehouses. According to Elimar Elesbon Soares, “At 39' high, we make the most of our warehouse space. Plus, we organize products according to their demand and manage everything through the FIFO criterion (first in, first out).” Sound organization of goods and all these operations are essential to facilitate incoming and outgoing pesticides.

Agrochemicals: handle with care

Pesticides utilized to wipe out infestations are either poisonous to people and water, or the environment. Thus, they must be stored and handled in a completely safe manner to avoid potential risks.

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the following are some of the issues companies like Bravo must pay special attention to in their logistics centers:

  • Location. Pesticide warehouses must be far from households, hospitals, schools, stores, food markets, rivers, wells and other domestic water sources.
  • Accessibility. These warehouses must be easily accessible to vehicles moving pesticides, as well as fire-fighting equipment and vehicles (if a fire-related incident occurs).
  • Limit handling. Any distribution warehouse racks must facilitate minimum product handling to avoid spills and leaks.
  • Lighting and ventilation. Lighting work zones is necessary (natural and electric), with wide spaces for handling loads.
  • Space allotted to personnel. Installation washing facilities must be set up for personnel.
  • Structure. Walls must be smooth, uncracked and ledge-free, electrical connections must be insulated with fire- and dust-resistant materials, and warehouse sectors must be separated by firewalls.
  • Fire-protection systems. The warehouse must have smoke detectors and control devices that react directly above the area affected by a fire outbreak. Automatic sprinkler systems should be distributed strategically inside the racks.

A fully space-purposed warehouse

“The majority of industries in this sector are located in the Southeast region of Brazil,” explains Elimar Elesbon Soares. So, recently, the company opened a brand new 8.64 acre warehouse in the city of Cuiabá, in the State of Mato Grosso, “to reduce delivery times.”

Just like the other logistics installations in Brazil, Interlake Mecalux and Bravo worked hand in hand in this project’s design. As Elimar Elesbon Soares explains, “Interlake Mecalux’s technical team visited our center in the middle of its construction, and showed us which would be the best solutions to make full use of space and reach the storage capacity we wanted.”

In this warehouse, huge flows of goods are carried out every day. The center has 36 docks with hydraulic ramps where 120 trucks load and unload daily (each with an average 27-pallet capacity). Every day, 3,300 pallets are managed (both inputs and outputs), “or in other words, an average of 2,425 tons of pesticide,” points out the operations director.

Pallet racks: strength and versatility

Pallet racks are ideal for handling this work volume. Among all their advantages, Elimar Elesbon Soares highlights “their handiness.” The racks provide direct access, which facilitates the handling of products. Using reach trucks, operators only must go to the specified location to insert and extract the pallets.

The distribution of the goods in the racks takes their features and sizes into account. Pallets are 39" x 48", although they can be of different weights (from 1.16 t, up to a maximum of 1.49 t). For example, lower rack levels are allocated to IBC Pallet Tanks (bulk liquid containers), to prevent the accidental fall of these heavy, dangerous loads. Upper levels are where light-weight products are deposited.

When dealing with such long aisles (measuring 276' long), the higher rotation products are placed at the ends with the intention of speeding up the inputs and outputs of these fast movers. Those with a lower rotation are set back further. Additionally, the racks were fitted out with two underpasses that cut across the racks to streamline workflows and, at the same time, to serve as emergency exits.

The Bravo operations director also emphasized “the flexibility of the racks, which let us adapt to our changing customer base and market trends quickly.”

Elimar Elesbon Soares - Bravo’s Operational Director
“All the projects we have undertaken with Interlake Mecalux have been crucial to our company. Plus, we have a soft spot for our warehouse in Cuiabá because this location let us strengthen growth in Brazil. The Interlake Mecalux storage system makes full use of the entire surface area (racks stand up to an impressive eight levels high), which is how we got a larger storage capacity.”

Advantages for Bravo

  • Safety first: the work at Bravo consists of managing agrochemical products in a completely safe manner. To do so, all its warehouses have a fire safety system that fulfills protection regulations.
  • Business expansion: from its founding, Bravo has grown and taken its products closer to its customers. Interlake Mecalux has always collaborated with the company, offering up solutions that reduce operational costs and minimize order delivery times.
  • Higher productivity: all these warehouses are equipped with pallet racks because of their easy-to-use practicality, facilitating massive pesticide inputs and outputs.
Bravo warehouses with Interlake Mecalux racks
Total built surface area: 102 acres
Total storage capacity: 252,595 pallets
Pallet size: 39" x 48"
Max. pallet weight: 1.49 t
Racking height: 39'

Products used in this project

Ask an expert