Hi, my name is Marcin Pacion and I have been living in the nice coastal town of Mariestad for a couple of years now with my wife, two children and our dog. The days go by quickly as the Future Mill grows. Last year it was mostly about groundworks and foundations, and in 2024 we will enter a new phase when the silhouette of the Future Mill becomes visible as buildings start to be erected on the site.
An important part of the modernization of the mill in Mariestad is the fully automated high-bay warehouse. A massive piece of work with an area of about 10,000 square meters (which is more than five ice hockey rinks), with a storage capacity of tens of thousands of pallets. The erection of the automated warehouse, which will measure approximately 30 meters in height and 160 x 60 meters in size when completed, is now underway, the first of its kind at Metsä Tissue's mill.
So how does this giant pallet rack work and what are the benefits?
Eight stacker-cranes, using rails in the floor and ceiling, will move back and forth on the respective tracks between the racks. The cranes move through the warehouse to deliver and retrieve pallets from the racks at different height levels.
System is fully automatic with in real time monitoring possibility from computer system, including logistics, which we'll talk more about soon. During the normal operation mode, no human will need to enter the high bay. There will of course be planned stops for maintenance.
The automated warehouse is linked to the dispatch area. The state-of-the-art warehouse logistics system with laser-guided vehicles, among other things, means increased flexibility in the handling of finished goods and raw materials and facilitates logistics within the warehouse.
The new high-bay warehouse reduces energy consumption, resulting in a lower carbon footprint, compared to a manual warehouse.
Good for the environment, good for people with improved safety and reduced workload, increased storage capacity, faster handling and improved delivery reliability are some of the benefits of the fully automated high-bay warehouse at the Future mill in Mariestad.
The high-bay warehouse is expected to become operational in the summer of 2025. If you want to know more, check out our website where you can read more about the project and also follow the work live via webcam:
https://www.metsagroup.com/metsatissue/projects/future-mill-in-mariestad/