Teamwork in record time
Fully automatic equipped cocoa warehouse
Amsterdam is the largest cocoa harbour in Europe. 20 per cent of the international harvest of this sensitive raw material is handled here. The Vollers Group logistics company has also set up a fully automated cocoa warehouse there. As a professional company for innovative and sustainable automation technology, we provided active support.
The three warehouses, each 150 metres long, 40 metres wide and 24 metres high, receive the freight arriving in containers and ships using conveyor technology for bulk goods. The cocoa beans are conveyed by means of lowerable conveyor belts to their storage compartments, which are filled up to ten metres high, to be loaded onto lorries or barges for onward transport. The outgoing goods are carried by means of gripper shovels.
Gripper shovels remove the cocoa beans after outfeed and place them on conveyor belts that carry the goods to their destination. legen sie auf Förderbänder, um die Ware zu ihrem Zielort zu ransportieren.
“Our task for this major project was to manage the storage, retrieval and relocation process, including switchgear construction and cabling,” explained Bernd Landwehr. Our colleague from Technical Sales Process Automation added: “Here we worked together with the company ProLeiT. Thanks to teamwork and smart software, we were able to successfully implement this challenging project. We managed this and gained a lot of new expertise in the process.”
Everything was running smoothly in the fully automated cocoa warehouse until, on 12 April 2023, we got the bad news that a fire had broken out there. Of course, the project team had to provide support for the reconstruction and get the entire process control system, including electrical installations, up and running again in record time. “We received the order in June and the first lines were up and running again in October,” said Bernd Landwehr, describing the sporting team effort of the ten or so colleagues from Visbek, Bremen and Poland.
He also emphasised the wide range of options in cooperation with ProLeiT, which complement the SCHULZ portfolio: “Together, we can also develop innovative solutions for other sectors,” concluded Bernd Landwehr.
“The cooperation with ProLeiT offers a wide range of opportunities. Together, we can also develop innovative solutions for other sectors.”
Bernd Landwehr, Sales Process Automation
