In Varennes, Groupe Robert is building a state-of-the-art distribution center that will meet present and future challenges.
Groupe Robert’s challenge: to meet the growing demand for storage space for refrigerated and frozen products, despite the scarcity of labour. The solution: build a state-of-the-art vertical and automated warehouse.
The project, worth more than $150 million and largely carried out in the midst of a pandemic, is nearing completion. The building, 150 feet high and located along Highway 30 in Varennes, will allow the storage of 60,000 pallets, or 30,000 pallets of refrigerated products and the same quantity of frozen products. For comparison purposes, if the dimensions were compared to those of a standard warehouse 36 feet high, a warehouse of 600,000 square feet would have had to be built.
The idea dates back to 2018, recalls Michel Robert, President of Groupe Robert. “We were then starting to experience labor problems almost everywhere in our distribution centres, particularly in the centers for refrigerated and frozen products. We had to find a way to secure long-term service for our customers despite the scarcity of labour, particularly in these difficult environments where operators have to work at temperatures ranging from -18C to 4C”.
These customers are manufacturers in the food sector. Some are already Groupe Robert clients and new clients will be added. Growth in this sector in Quebec is around 4% per year, but there has been no addition of storage capacity for years, particularly in frozen. “We are not opening this warehouse to close others. It is an addition of capacity in the market”, specifies Michel Robert.
Inspired by best practices
The automated distribution center is managed by an automated storage and retrieval system, better known by its English acronym ASRS (Automated Storage and Retrieval System), a technology more widespread in Europe, particularly in France and Switzerland, where Michel Robert and his father Claude visited in 2018 and 2019 to visit automated storage sites.
“That’s where we saw the different technologies, the systems used and the possible building configurations. The advantages and limitations too,” explains Michel Robert. “These centers do not offer endless possibilities. These are mostly full pallet centers.”
The difficulty in finding labor is one of the factors that prompted Groupe Robert to consider the ASRS. “A certain number of people will work in the warehouse, but it will be mainly in the section intended for the preparation of orders. In the storage space called the tower, there will be no one”.
These overseas visits will also have revealed the mistakes to avoid. “If a pallet is crooked or damaged 130 feet up, humans have to come up and do the repair. Specialized workers. A quality control on arrival of the goods will be mandatory to avoid such situations”.
Controlled environment
The Groupe Robert distribution center has two distinct parts: the tower and the mezzanine.
The tower is the section in height which includes the computerized cranes in charge of placing the pallets in the racks, and the mezzanine, on four floors, allows the preparation of orders.
The warehouse is built high to optimize the cost per square foot. Michel Robert explains: “For the storage of frozen products, the required infrastructure is very expensive per square foot. The floor is heated with glycol to prevent breakage due to the cold. By building in height, we reduce the floor area to be heated as well as the costs associated with the slab”.
The tower has the particularity of having an oxygen rate of 13.5%, while this rate is around 21% in the air we breathe. As there are no human beings in this part, this does not pose any problem and makes it possible to reduce, or even eliminate, the risk of fire. “It is impossible to light a piece of paper with a lighter”, emphasizes Michel Robert. “A human can enter the warehouse, but he cannot work there for a long time. The percentage of oxygen present in the air being similar to a place located at more than 3,000 meters above sea level”.
(Courtesy of Groupe Robert)
Precision, necessary on all levels
How does it all work? The customer provides their pallet specifications and the information is captured in Robert’s computer system. No matter how many different products are entrusted to him by a customer, each of the products is created in the warehouse management system. Even before the trailer passes through the gate, we know how many pallets are arriving, by which carrier and the information is already in the system awaiting confirmation by reception.
Goods transported by trucks will be unloaded and deposited on conveyors with forklifts. Each pallet will then be measured and weighed to ensure the quality of the packaging and its integrity. It will then be placed on a slave pallet that never leaves the distribution center. Everything passes inside a bracket and is routed to the place determined by the computer. An antechamber system preserves energy and reduces oxygen variations when the pallets are conveyed in the warehouse.
The locations are determined by the computerized system according to the production batches. “Each customer requires different configurations depending on their shipping criteria. The management of the expiry dates of the products is done automatically according to the destination of the shipments, the customers and the region of delivery. Our system is very flexible and allows us to meet the requirements of our customers’ supply chain”, indicates Michel Robert, who specifies that the Robert Group does not intend to transform itself into a food distributor. “Clients reserve the number of pallet spaces they need in the tower. Our vocation is not distribution and we do not own the products. We remain a supply chain partner to our customers; distribution not being our niche”.
The section called mezzanine rises over four floors and will be used for shipping, order preparation and the development of store displays. A floor has been planned for future needs.
Of course, we thought of truckers, and the configuration of the site ensures that they will never have to back up on the side of their blind spot. The truckers’ reception station is made to accommodate two wide trucks, and two road trains without the trailer in the back encroaching on the street. The intelligent and automated gate assigns a loading gate and, while the trucker is driving there, the system has already started to lower the goods. “Our objective is for truckers to enter and leave the center of Varennes in less than an hour,” explains the president of the Robert Group.
Robert’s trucks will not be the only ones to cross the gate of the Varennes distribution center. There are warehouse customers who already have agreements with different carriers. The efficiency objective applies to all truckers.
Realize a vision
The realization of Groupe Robert’s automated warehouse presented significant challenges, including that of building it during a global pandemic. But the biggest challenge, and clearly also the greatest pride of Michel and Claude Robert, is that all the skilled trades involved have aligned themselves with the vision they communicated.
“My father was the chief architect of this project at the start,” emphasizes Michel Robert. “We opted for the least energy-consuming materials. The walls, which were developed with our partner Norbec, are eight inches thick, compared to the industry standard of six inches, which gives an R60 insulation factor, very effective in summer and winter alike”.
The Varennes site will make it possible to add a second and even a third phase if necessary. The land had been acquired by Groupe Robert a few years ago for another project which did not materialize. “The city of Varennes welcomed us with open arms. Mayor Martin Damphousse and his team were facilitators, and it was the only city on the South Shore that allowed us to carry out such a project, in particular because of height regulations”.
Construction Sorel is the prime contractor for the project. “We chose them for their expertise in this type of construction”. The contractor had completed a similar project in Joliette shortly before. “The steel erectors and all the workers involved in the site did a lot of work that spanned almost a year. I would like to thank all the workers who did an extraordinary job, rain or shine,” said Michel Robert.
The greatest value of this site in the eyes of Michel Robert is that it will be a guarantee of service for customers. “I can look the client in the eye and say: you want to sign a 10-year contract? I can guarantee you that there will be manpower to serve you during these ten years. Because this site only needs a minimal workforce to be operational”.
The design of the warehouse has been designed for durability. “We don’t build buildings like this for 15 or 20 years,” says Michel Robert.
“These are cutting-edge, efficient and productive facilities that will be there for future generations. For the next 50 or 60 years, no doubt”.