KUKA robots ensure success for family mill
03 March 2022
A change in regulations to limit the maximum weight of a flour sack in France from 40 to 25 kilograms brought family mill Moulins Bourgeois to the limit of its delivery capacity. For the same scope of delivery, around twice as many flour sacks had to be packed, transported and loaded, and this in turn led to the company looking to an automated solution with the help of KUKA robots.
Producing flour as independent millers since 1895, and exporting both its conventionally-grown and organic flour to countries as diverse as Germany, Norway, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, China, and Brazil, among others, Moulins Bourgeois’ built a new mill in the 2010s with improved hygiene precautions and almost double the production capacity. However, this coincided with a new regulation in France would present the company with further challenges.
The regulations, which meant that flour sacks were allowed to weigh a maximum of 25 kilograms, were intended to reduce the physical strain on mill employees. Julien and David Bourgeois, the fourth generation to run the family business, needed a solution.
Automation needed
“We had to switch from 40kg flour sacks to 25kg flour sacks,” Julien Bourgeois reports. “This was good news for our employees because it reduced the heavy physical labour, but we had to practically double the number of sacks we were loading into our trucks every day from 7,000 before. That was completely impossible.” This was because six employees had previously been responsible for palletising and loading the flour sacks. In order to protect the team from overload and to be able to continue to fulfill all orders, the company decided to invest in a fully automated distribution centre. The employees, meanwhile, kept their jobs; today, on the loading deck, they ensure that each sack arrives in the right truck and is safely stowed there.
Success
In 2014, the mill set into motion its new 100% automated ‘goods-to-truck’ solution, with five KUKA robots, and the following year opened its new distribution centre. From the time the pallets enter the warehouse to the time the sacks are transported to the trucks, order preparation is now completely automated. With a processing capacity of 2,000 sacks per hour, the five depalletising robots from KUKA handle the entire order picking process, as well as pre-sorting the bags so that they arrive in the truck in the order that matches the delivery route.
Heritage
Bourgeois: the name stands for flour of the highest quality since 1895, says the family. “We have been operating as independent millers for four generations,” explains General Manager Julien Bourgeois. For 80 years, the company's headquarters have been located in Verdelot, 80 kilometers east of Paris, and delivers up to 170 tons of flour every day. Annual sales increased from 40 million euros in 2015 to 50 million euros in 2020, and the Bourgeois brothers are pleased to have 150 satisfied employees and claim to have one of the most efficient and modern flour production facilities in Europe. “We have managed to load 60% more sacks of flour and reduce the risk of musculoskeletal diseases and injuries to our employees as a result of the changeover,” said Julien Bourgeois. “As a company, we've grown, have much greater demand and therefore more employees overall than before.”
More information on Kuka can be found here: https://www.kuka.com/en-de
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