Italtrans is an Italian leading company in the fields of transportation and integrated logistics for the supply chain of the large-scale retail trade and the food industry. It provides fully customized services based on the customer’s requirements, and manages all kinds of goods, both food and non-food, at different temperatures – from ambient to frozen – accurately, easily, fast and efficiently. Dealing with any type of goods: food at room temperature, food at a controlled temperature (0 °C / +20 °C), frozen food (-25 °C) and non-food products.

The needs connected with a fast-growing market prompted Italtrans to look for innovative
automation solutions aimed at streamlining and improving performance in departments dedicated to beverage product picking operations, at their plant in Calcio (BG), Italy.

Italtrans chose and confirmed System Logistics as a reliable partner, after completing other installations in the past. With these plant systems, Italtrans was able to develop its business through automation, starting with the construction of an intensive automated warehouse, and later a miniload warehouse for handling picking operations for low-rotation products. The excellent results achieved, convinced Italtrans to entrust System Logistics with a new project to develop their new picking system, this time choosing the PickMate solution.

PickMate is System Logistics’ fully automated picking system, conceived to manage high-flow references. The system picks up the packages directly from the source pallets and downloads them on the destination pallets without the aid of an intermediate buffer. The PickMate solution designed for Italtrans consists of three linear tracks, each with three anthropomorphic robots, and an AGV system comprised of 20 laser-guided trolleys. The solution, directly connected by an SVL loop to the customer’s intensive warehouse, has been designed to handle the first 70 high-rotation reference items in the ABC class of the beverage industry.

The anthropomorphic robots are programmed to pick up the product directly from the source pallet, using three grippers engineered and patented by System Logistics, in order to form the pallet that will be delivered to the stores. Handling of mother pallets and order pallets within the automatedarea is managed by 16 Sharks and 4 LGVs, which allow the pallets to be moved in total safety.

Also as regards Italtrans, one of the drivers behind their automation projects has been sustainability, since these automated systems are capable of dramatically improving the working conditions of operators.

At the heart of the PickMate system is SyStore, our proprietary software that governs the solution and that, thanks to the “best fitting” algorithm, takes into account not only the stackability of products when forming order pallets, but also all the rules provided by the customer, based on their different delivery requirements. By defining the pallet composition in advance, the stability and quality of order pallets can be guaranteed, resulting in high quality services to the end customer.

PickMate is a highly modular and scalable solution. Being a simple system, it lends itself very well to short installation and set-up times that are, so far, unparalleled».
Explained Caterina Scarcia, Regional Sales Manager New Business Development