June 2007:

Finnish Nekos exports innovative technology to Fazer-bakeries in Moscow, Ogre and Tallinn

Automated crate handling system boosts efficiency in bakery logistics

The installation of a new handling system for plastic crates is under way at the premises of Zvezdny, a major Moscow-based bakery and confectionery producer. The supplier is the Finnish company Nekos Oy, which will install the automated crate handling system as an all-inclusive package comprising both hardware and software. Experts from Nekos will stay on site to supervise mechanical and electrical installation works over the summer and to test-run the mechanisms and train the staff before the system is started up in the autumn. Maintenance and other services required during the system's lifetime will be provided by Nekos's Moscow-based agent Scandeq.

The Zvezdny bakery crate handling system in a pre-delivery test drive at Nekos's factory in Finland: stacking-destacking units with plastic box storage.

Zvezdny's new automated plastic crate handling system represents the very latest in state-of-the-art materials handling technology, unprecedented in the bakery industry in Moscow. Nekos's solution will take the Fazer-owned Zvezdny's daily logistics to a completely new level: the handling line is capable of processing up to 3,000 bread crates in an hour. The processes involving incoming crates, washing, storing and moving the crates are all automated. Thanks to innovative technology and automation, the despatch and storage areas of the bakery can now be put to more efficient use than before. Nekos's crate handling system is logistically straightforward and makes use of not just the floor space but also several raised platforms.

Similar systems will be installed in Fazer's bakeries in Ogre, Latvia, and Tallinn, Estonia, in the autumn, although on a smaller scale. The new automated system in SIA Fazer Maiznicas in Ogre, near Riga, will be able to process around 2,000 plastic crates in an hour and the system installed in the Tallinn-based Fazer Eesti AS will have a capacity of around 1,000 crates per hour.

The storage space can be multiplied by using a light construction intermediate floor.

Fazer Bakeries has a substantial market share in bread-making in the whole Baltic area. The Fazer-owned bakeries in Moscow, Ogre and Tallinn are pioneers in adopting automated packaging systems. Zvezdny is the largest manufacturer of bake-off pizza and frozen dough in Russia and it also makes confectionery and fresh bread. The bakeries in Ogre and Tallinn supply bread to their local markets. Pre-packed bread is increasing its market share in the major cities of Russia and the Baltic States hand in hand with bakeries' escalating production volumes and supermarket chains' demands for better and better hygiene in both production and transport.