The wholesale French bakery Cottes expanded since its foundation. Last year, a new cold store was built in Le Fossat in the south of France. Jungheinrich in Hamburg was asked to create a concept for it. The result was a system with mobile racking and reach trucks with protective cabs in cold store design. 

Throughout its short history, Cottes has seen many changes – always with positive results. The company, located in Le Fossat which is about an hour’s car ride away from Toulouse, was founded in 1991. At that time, 40 employees produced frozen bread rolls and confectionery. The first innovation for Cottes already happened four years later. “Our first big expansion came in 1995”, recounts Claude Morin, Cottes Director in Le Fossat.

Expansion doubling capacities

A new product was added: le “Pain Pérènes.“ The by now internationally known pre-baked bread, cakes and pastries from the house of Cottes can be stored for a long time and intermediaries then only need to finish the baking process. “This product was very successful which meant that the next expansion in form of a large production line followed in 1998“, Morin continues. In the next step, the capacity was doubled in 2000 and then even tripled in 2003. Two years later Cottes was taken over by the Belgian company Vandermoortele with headquarters in Izegem. The parent company decided shortly afterwards that Cottes should expand further. Another cold store warehouse was part of this expansion.

This presented a special challenge. “Until that time the production warehouse only had one cold storage cell and this expansion made it into a real distribution warehouse”, says Morin. “This means that there are now many more movements and a comparatively larger warehouse is therefore required.“ Due to very good past experience Vandermoortele in Belgium had with Jungheinrich, the Hamburg company was asked to design a concept for it.

Decision for mobile racking

Several solutions were discussed including an automatic installation. In the end it was decided to go for a system with mobile racking because a high rack warehouse was also out of the question due to imposed conditions. “The basis for this decision was the positive experience the Vandermoortele Group already had with this type of racking,“ Claude Morin underlines the decision for this system.

The erection of mobile racking is generally quite complicated. In the first instance, such a system requires very precise laying of rails. “There are tolerances that have to be watched carefully”, says Wilfried Elsen, Systems and Projects Sales Manager at Jungheinrich in Belgium and one of the experts in this area. “If this is not done, you will have an installation that will does not function throughout its life!” The quality of rails and their laying is therefore an essential precondition for the success of such a project.

Uncompromising quality is of the essence

The quality of mobile racking is also crucial. A precise calculation according to the tonnage to be carried is required. He had seen installations in the world “that start slanting after a certain time, similar to the curve of a banana“, Elsen says with a grin. The Jungheinrich Manager continues that all said an uncompromising quality for the erection of mobile racking is of the essence.

The cold store in operation since the autumn of 2006 has a surface area of 3,500 m². Up to three pallets can be stacked one above the other in the mobile racking aisles. A total of almost 5,000 pallets can be stored in the Cottes cold store. Two Jungheinrich reach trucks in cold store design take care of an effective goods throughput in temperatures between -18 and -22°.

The Jungheinrich trucks type ETV 216 are Range 2 reach trucks with 1600 kg capacity. These stackers differ from “ordinary” trucks owing to modifications for application in cold store. Enclosed plugs with mechanical locking ensure safe signal exchange even with severe condensation. Sealed controls secure high operational reliability in temperatures up to -30°C. Jungheinrich reach trucks for application in cold stores are also protected against corrosion with primed side and cover plates as well as bushed mast rollers.  “Solid masts are also important”, Wilfried Elsen emphasises.

Productivity increase due to cold store cab

Because of the low temperatures and 2-shift or 3-shift operation, Cottes made the decision to go for reach trucks with cold store cab. Claude Morin underlines that this decision was made in the interest of both operator and company. “With a cab, the operators are optimally protected against the cold.” If however a company runs a cold store without protective cab, the operators would have to be supplied with appropriate clothing on the one hand and on the other hand they would be able to claim additional breaks for warming up. “Productivity increases if the operator sits in a cab and can work through without a break“, the Director continues. 

The innovative interior and exterior design of the cold store cab was ergonomically optimised by Jungheinrich developers and provides excellent comfort for the operator. All electric components are integrated in an operating unit and can be operated easily and safely. The cab door opens wide. A low entry height facilitates effortless and safe entry and exit. Cloth lining and insulation mats in the cab interior assure additional heat and noise insulation.

The cold store acts as distribution warehouse

Until the autumn of 2006, Cottes only had one material flow – from production to storage, then via order picking to goods-out. A second was added with the construction of the new cold store. “As the new store acts as distribution warehouse, products produced at other sites are now also arriving here”, says Claude Morin.

Products are already frozen during production; they are then packaged, manually palleted and prepared for storage. They are subsequently identified. “This means that the SAP system now knows that we have received a pallet directly from production and made it available on the apron“, Morin explains. The SAP system now creates a label; the reach truck picks up the pallet and takes it into the cold store. “The operators find out from the label where the pallets have to be stored.“

Retrieval is based on the same principle as storage. The SAP system creates a list of pallets designated for retrieval. The reach truck operator retrieves the pallets from the mobile racking according to this list and transports them to a special zone between cold store cell and goods-out. From here, a high-speed Jungheinrich truck takes the pallets to waiting freezer lorries.  

The distribution centre was also necessary for another reason: “You cannot send a pallet from production directly to the customer“, explains Claude Morin. “We are duty-bound to keep frozen food in storage for at least one day to carry out quality control in spot checks.” Producers such as Cottes have to guarantee excellent quality every day.    

Very positive experience with Jungheinrich 

As far as Jungheinrich are concerned, they vouch for the quality of the logistics processes, because the Hamburg company has not only equipped the cold store at Cottes but has also taken on the technical maintenance of trucks and the mobile racking. “I already had very positive experience with Jungheinrich in my previous company“, Morin reports. The experience with Jungheinrich in Toulouse is also “100 percent perfect!“.

The installation with mobile racking itself was new for Cottes and Claude Morin and was initially looked at rather sceptically. However, “I am extremely satisfied with the installation”, the Manager now admits without reservation. This is true for the entire collaboration right down to the engineers. “They not only adhered to the time schedule, but they also completed the installation before time!”

Jungheinrich ranks among the world’s leading companies in the material handling equipment, warehousing and material flow engineering sectors. The company is a logistics service provider with manufacturing operations, which offers its customers a comprehensive range of forklift trucks, shelving systems and services covering the entire field of intralogistics. Jungheinrich shares are traded on all German stock exchanges.