Barcelona, October 27th 2011.
Mecalux, an international leader in the storage systems market, will fully automate the new 6,000 m2 PETROBRAS warehouse in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
PETROBRAS, created in 1953, is the biggest company in Brazil and the fourth most important petrol company in the world. It currently has upwards of 100 production platforms, 16 refineries, 30,000 km of pipelines and more than 7,000 service stations.
The new Mecalux warehouse will be able to store around 16,000 pallets. Over about a year, Mecalux will implement five double-depth, twin-mast stacker cranes which will enable PETROBRAS to shift 140 pallets per hour (entry and exit). These stacker cranes will move goods from 37-metre-high shelving and lift the pallets, which can weigh up to 1,250 kg each, at a speed of 42 metres/minute.
The stacker cranes will be guided by the EasyWMS® management software, which will coordinate all the movements. The computer program facilitates control of the pallet warehouse from stock status to real-time order control. The software reduces errors as well as the time spent on the general warehouse management tasks.
“We are very happy that a company as important as PETROBRAS has put its trust in us and decided to automate its logistics centre with our storage technology,” said Mecalux vice-president Javier Carrillo.
PETROBRAS technology manager Júlio Cezar said, “The automation of our logistics centre means we can control, coordinate and more easily manage all the processes carried out in the warehouse, making us faster and more efficient.”
The warehouse will have an electrified monorail system around 600 metres long with 22 trolleys to absorb the pallet flow.
PETROBRAS
The company operates in 28 countries worldwide. It functions as an integrated energy company in the following sectors: exploration and production, refining, trade and transportation of crude oil and natural gas, petrochemicals, distribution of oil derivatives, electrical energy, biofuels and other sources of renewable energy.
Its reserves total around 14 billion barrels of oil, a figure set to at least double in coming years with the discovery of petroleum and gas in the subsalt area. More than 90% of its reserves are found in deep and ultra-deep waters.