Pharmaceutical giant Fresenius Kabi has opened a brand new state of the art, fully automated, high-bay warehouse at Cargo Centre Graz (CCG), planned, designed and installed by SSI Schaefer.

Fresenius Kabi, the leader in infusion therapy and clinical nutrition in Europe and countries of Latin America and Asia Pacific, chose CCG in Austria, a public and private supported freight village, as the location for its modern logistics facility due to the close proximity of its existing manufacturing plant and the supporting infrastructure.

The fully automated high bay warehouse houses two aisles inclusive of two stacker cranes, controlled by logistics software WAMAS, with double deep storage. The racking system, with a length of 94 metres, a width of 15 metres and a height of 26 metres, provides a storage capacity for 7,500 euro and industrial pallets. A conveying system platform, containing 36 drive units, plus two other platforms for ventilation units are located in the upper warehouse level.



The overall system is operated by WAMAS including 490 digital inputs and 236 digital outputs. Simultaneously, the WAMAS material flow calculator controls the flow of goods on the conveying systems and ensures the transport to and from the pallet storage locations.

Due to the nature of the products being stored the warehouse has three temperature zones for its different sections ranging from minus 15 degrees Celsius to room temperature - these areas include an oxygen-reduced, fully automated high bay warehouse, a clean area for the sampling of products and a state of the art monitoring system.

The new Fresenius Kabi logistics facility accommodates the company's complete warehouse management system, the goods-in area and picking area. It will serve as the base for the company-owned trucks which supply hospitals and pharmacies throughout Austria but perhaps more importantly will operate as a central logistics interface to supply Eastern European markets as well as patients from all over the world with products made in Graz.

The company CCG Immobilien GmbH, a subsidiary of CCG and the company Porr commissioned the project and were in charge of the entire implementation process. Peter Pittino, Chief Executive of CCG Immobilien GmbH said: "Our ambition was to capture all relevant factors for the logistics project in as little time as possible and to mutually integrate these ideas into the building project. All project participants have nailed this task in an extremely impressive manner."

The whole warehouse exceeds the high expectations and requirements set within the pharmaceutical industry nationally and internationally.