AVENA fits new food oil warehouse with Toyota Radioshuttles and racking to optimise their storage space
The Czech family company AVENA s.r.o has been growing at an incredible pace. They rely on a fleet of Toyota forklifts to handle their oil products in production and the warehouse. High-density shuttle racking with Toyota Radioshuttles is installed to make good use of the available space. In the future automated reach trucks will be introduced to make the process even more efficient.
About Avena
Family company AVENA s.r.o., based in Slavičín, Czech has been growing at an incredible pace. AVENA began its activity with the production of pasta. In 2006, Rostislav Hrbáček bought another factory and invited his son in 2008 to do business in food oils. Today, AVENA s.r.o. mixes and packages edible food oils in gastro and small-consumer packaging . Every year, 45 thousand tons of oil pass through this plant and the hands of only 65 employees. AVENA was ranked among the 200 largest Czech family businesses by Forbes magazine. For over ten years, their material handling equipment has been supplied by authorised dealer UHS Jakos, in close collaboration with Toyota Material Handling CZ.
Facts & figures
- Company: AVENA s.r.o.
- Location: Bzenec, Czech
- Industry: food industry
- Trucks: Purchased: various Toyota Lifter hand pallet trucks, 2 Toyota Traigo48 electric forklifts; 2 Toyota Tonero engine forklifts, 10 BT Levio electric pallet trucks, 6 light-duty pallet trucks, 3 BT Staxio pallet stackers. Long-term rental: Toyota Radioshuttle and shuttle racking system
Rapid growth, numerous changes
The person guiding the company through its steady growth, the commercial director, the planning strategist and implementer of all process renewal and investments, is one and the same: Rostislav Hrbáček, Jr. “We started building in 2021,” he says, “Changes were necessary in order to carry out sufficient volumes of orders. Our industry is not marginal, only a sufficient turn brings a cumulative effect. We are really growing, the current one-day production of packaged oils in litres corresponds to the quarterly production of Avena in 2008. We process 45 thousand litres of gastronomic oil every year and in the Czech Republic we are the second largest supplier on the market. Our largest customers are wholesalers in the gastro segment who are also the largest distributors in their respective countries, from Slovakia to Germany, from the Netherlands to Austria. The whole segment is growing – cooking less at home, people appreciate saving time by eating in restaurants or using delivery services.”
AVENA turns large volumes of fats and oils, stored in containers or transported by tanks, into distribution packaging.
The actual production plant isn’t large. AVENA chooses its suppliers in terms of exclusive quality. The packaging material for oil distribution is also handled on the intake ramps, which are plastic and metal packaging of various volumes, paper cartons and plastic film.
Although the company itself blows 1 and 10-liter recyclable PET bottles, other materials need to be stored and handled into and out of production. The heart of production is an active space of tightly related and flexible operating workplaces and employees.
The incoming flow of own production of edible oils, of empty packaging, and the output of ready-to-sell items of different volumes, packaging and preparation for dispatch are all being processed here.
Toyota, an irreplaceable partner
Rostislav Hrbáček, Jr. describes his strategy even when choosing handling equipment: “I would like to state that Toyota is practically irreplaceable as a partner for us in running the company, from the hand pallet trucks Toyota Lifter to the Toyota Radioshuttle, including our planned automation. Historically, we have tried other brands, but nothing suited us as much as the technology from Toyota. I mean, it’s come to a point that if I have the need for a trolley, a manual pallet truck or anything for handling, I don’t do a tender and I don’t choose. The time and experience with our long-term supplier have already proven their worth.”
“For me, Toyota handling technology is the first choice – in terms of the range of products, the quality in the materials used, the design and control, and especially its reliability, which is essential for our demanding operation.”
Rostislav Hrbáček, Sales Director of AVENA s.r.o.
Taking care of the trucks through Toyota service experts
UHS Jakos, authorized dealer for Toyota Material Handling CZ, supplies and services AVENA’s handling equipment under contract, covering inspections, battery care and on-call support. Their reliable partnership began in 2014.
AVENA operates 25 manual trucks, replacing them at peak resale value, with UHS providing new models. Driven by its energetic owner, AVENA continues to grow and plans to invest in automation, WMS and fleet management.
Swarm Automation Storage to help further growth
AVENA wants to grow even further and Toyota can help. Rostislav Hrbáček explains how: “We decided to introduce the Toyota Radioshuttle in the oil warehouse. We absolutely wanted to make the most efficient use of the available space so that we can store the largest number of pallets.
However, we also had to deal with the demanding rules and regulations of the Fire Rescue Service - since our main range of fats and oil is in the class of flammables F, which requires special extinguishing, we had to create a catch bath under the entire area of the shelving system.
Toyota helped build a special solution and guided us in how to store and handle the stock of finished products – everything was solved in one go. Later, we were inspired by another Toyota customer, where automated reach trucks operate a racking system together with several Toyota Radioshuttles. We want to deploy a similar concept for stocking goods – automation using AGV Toyota RAE160 and for horizontal transport of goods from production we will use the Toyota CDI120, a horizontal automated carrier, in order to make the supply of goods from the production area continuous.”
High-density storage is a focus of the Logistics Solutions department at Toyota Material Handling CZ, based on the requirement of Mr. Hrbáček, the solution contains:
- Toyota Radioshuttle system with a load capacity of 1.5 tons.
- High-density racks in the expedition zone for the storage of finished products and more. It operates in FIFO mode. Such handling solution allows for complete fluidity and high turnover of goods.
- An interesting feature of this installation is the catcher bath under the entire shelf with a depth of 1.3 m and a volume of almost 500 m3, which - in the event of a fire - would capture all the stored oil, which would then be drained away.
- The Radioshuttle is equipped with a gyroscope – a tilt sensor that warns in the form of an LED and audio alarm against excessive tilt of the chassis.
- The machine comes with 2 gel batteries and a spare set of batteries. Batteries are charged in a simple way through the charging station without any manipulation with cables. The advantage is safety, cleanliness and storage.
- The pallet rack is equipped with practical rack stops for proper and safe storage of pallet. Also, in front of the shelves hundreds of reflectors are installed for guidance, stopping the wheels. These accessories increase safety, protect shelves and goods, and allows operators to work smoothly.
- The entire Toyota Radioshuttle system is in long-term rental with a flat rate, including insurance, flexibility and full service.
Efficient, cost-saving design
Thanks to the high-density system reaching up to the ceiling, the space of the new hall is used to its maximum, but there are plenty of handling surfaces left. The hall is not temperature controlled, but the thermal inertia of the enclosed space is used. Lighting is now minimal and can be completely eliminated with the deployment of AGVs, which will represent further significant savings. Two shipping ramps are now used for shipping, which are shared by external carriers and seven lorries owned by AVENA. And interestingly, drivers can customise their beloved vehicles and drive them to truck rallies in their free time to show them off.