Mecalux delivers a turnkey installation to the highest producing Michelin tire plants in Europe

Michelin, 130 years manufacturing tires for any vehicle around the world.

One of the largest, highest producing Michelin tire plants in Europe is located in Vitoria, Spain. The facility’s elevated manufacturing flows required a fine-tuned logistics solution able to manage the business growth achieved in recent years, driven in part by the planned addition of a fourth production line.

The solution provided by Mecalux is designed with Michelin’s standard container dimensions and characteristics in mind. These metal containers flow through the entire installation and are set directly in the racks without needing a base pallet.

The automated rack-supported warehouse is 89 feet high and comprises 5 aisles where 5 single-mast stacker cranes operate. Divided into two floors, each level runs a different operation: inputs are carried out on the lower level, and outputs on the upper.

Double stacked containers arrive directly from the production plant. A full pallet stacker mounted at the entry point unstacks the containers and sets them on the chain conveyor, all pallet-free. Next, the conveyors shift the containers to the storage aisles; a stacker crane then collects and inserts them in their assigned location.

Inside the automated storage and retrieval system, the goods are stored as per the commands of the Easy WMS warehouse management system, designed by Mecalux. The Easy system has been adapted to the BSM communications system of Michelin, meaning output management is fully customized. Easy WMS controls product tracking through virtual instructions, and always knows where to find each and every container and if that container has exited or not.

The racks are specially designed to direct-store containers, thanks to cross-ties that support the container legs in a completely secure manner.

Outputs flow through the upper floor, serviced by a double transfer car that carries the containers to the dispatch zone. This transfer car can hold two containers at a time, making it possible to sequence the load and streamline workflows.

In this zone, 4 full pallet stackers restack the containers, to reduce loading times and optimize the space inside the transport vehicles.

Antonio J. García-Montalvo / Project Manager ASRS Z/VIT / Technical office / Michelin
This warehouse has a 4600 container capacity, which will accommodate the containers generated by 3 already up and running production lines, as well as a fourth prospective line, and it also has a capacity for 120 containers an hour. It was crucial to be able to retrieve containers off the lines and also supply containers to the delivery vehicle docks. Presently, everything is running very smoothly.
 

Mecalux also set up a fire safety system, enclosures and a cooling system that keeps the temperature between 50 and 80 °F.

Mecalux has delivered a turnkey installation to Michelin that operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The solution by Mecalux has made the Michelin manufacturing center in Vitoria a pioneer in its sector. Innovation and technology at your service.