Video transcription

Hayat Kimya, a leading chemical company in the Turkish and Eurasian market, has its headquarters in Izmit, Turkey, where its 4 production centres for the manufacture of hygiene and cleaning products are located.

Due to its enormous productivity growth in recent years, Hayat entrusted Mecalux with the construction of a warehouse capable of taking on all logistics and storage management in a comprehensive and automated manner.

10,000 tonnes of structure gave shape to the Hayat silo, whose impressive measurements far surpass those of a conventional warehouse.

46 metres high, 120 metres long by 105 metres wide...

with a storage capacity of 161,000 pallets.

Tarik Demiryakan (Head of logistics at Hayat Kimya)

“At Hayat Kimya we have invested heavily in this warehouse and we are very pleased about receiving an immediate return. We have saved a lot of money by closing external warehouses and by creating a centralised repository that has allowed us to eliminate transport between different locations. Currently, the goods are moved between each process without human handling.”

The production centres are connected to the silo by 4 raised tunnels which connect the tissue, hygiene and detergent factories with the automated warehouse, thus improving the displacement times of all the goods.

These tunnels allow the transit of a large number of pallets by means of the accumulation conveyors that have been installed inside, and a series of double load lifting platforms that facilitate entry of the pallets into the warehouse.

The warehouse consists of a silo and an operations building with 4 floors or levels.

The offices are located on Level 1.

On Level 2 there are picking operations, and on Levels 0 and 3 incoming goods reach the silo.

The goods from the factories, mostly transported through the tunnels, come into the silo through two monorail circuits of 450 metres each, located on Levels 0 and 3. This is all fully automated.

The monorail system, thanks to its high speed of displacement of up to one hundred metres per minute, allows for a high number of inflows and outflows of goods.

On Level 0, Mecalux has built an automatic truck unloading system for goods coming from the detergent factory, located 2 km away.

Both levels have an identification checkpoint that verifies the dimensions, and a set of scales to check that the permitted weight limit is not exceeded. After passing the control, the pallets are loaded onto monorail trucks and taken to the silo.

The Hayat silo is served by 15 stacker cranes that place the goods on 24 storage tiers at height, using the most advanced technology available.

At 46 metres high, 120 metres wide and 105 metres long, this large-scale silo is capable of storing over 161,000 pallets.

Its 15 stacker cranes raise the goods while moving them lengthways, in order to improve location and collection times, reaching a maximum speed of 180 metres per minute. These stacker cranes also have telescopic forks, a mechanism for horizontal handling that helps to deposit or remove the cargo units on the single and double bottom shelves.

The Hayat silo was designed with important safety measures in order to minimise any risks, and with an oxygen reduction system for fire prevention. The entrance gates to the silo maintain the appropriate percentage of oxygen inside.

Hayat is also in an area with high seismic risk, so it was necessary to reinforce its construction with deeper anchoring and with an additional structure of 2000 tonnes.

Ümit Ugur (Plant Manager at Hayat Kimya)

“The most important thing in the construction of an automated warehouse is to properly identify and specify at the outset what the needs and expectations are. All processes can thus be designed in the most appropriate manner. The more accurate the initial design, the more efficiency and profit can be obtained from the automated warehouse.”

The picking zone in Hayat is located on Level 2 and consists of two areas. One is for picking with conventional pallet racking and the other has dynamic channels served by 4 shuttles.

In the manual picking area, products with medium or low rotation are stored, while in the automatic picking area those with the fastest rotation are stored.

The arrival of the goods from the silo is handled using 4 lifting platforms that connect the monorail area on Level 3 with the picking area. The Easy WMS management software from Mecalux arranges them in the most suitable way, and tells the operator the optimal picking route for the composition of the order being prepared.

Once the pallet is ready, it is baled, labelled, and sent via two lifting platforms to the monorail on Level 0, which carries the pallets to the dispatch area.

The dispatch area, on Level 0, has 17 dynamic channels. The dynamic channels, with a capacity of 33 pallets each, are gravity storage systems that move the pallets across the surface using an appropriate slope and allowing the goods to be grouped for each order or route.

Hayat Kimya keeps its system of entry and dispatch of trucks in operation twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, handling more than 150 trucks per day. This figure has been made possible thanks to the automation of the entire facility.

Celalettin Dizman (Director of Systems Development and Operations at Hayat Kimya)

“With the help of the Mecalux team, we have implemented most of our functional processes with the WMS. We have a great system that is fully integrated from the start of production to the loading of the truck.”

For Hayat, Mecalux has built one of the largest freestanding automated warehouses in Europe. The bespoke project tailored to its storage, production and dispatch needs has led to the complete optimisation of the storage space, detailed control of each product, and maximum efficiency through the automation of all the processes.

The Hayat Kimya facilities have entailed a challenge for Mecalux, converting this project into a worldwide benchmark in freestanding automated warehouses.