Serving up happiness in a scoop with an automated warehouse

Ben & Jerry’s is a special name in Unilever’s portfolio. The ice cream maker’s amazing flavors and just as flavorful product names have made them a household favorite. As a well-known brand in the consumer-packaged goods industry, Ben & Jerry’s is not afraid to be creative and it is precisely this inventiveness that has secured the company’s growth throughout the years. In fact, their growing popularity was putting their European factory and distribution facility under pressure.

Unparalleled growth leads to storage and capacity concerns

Ben & Jerry’s Hellendoorn plant in the Netherlands produces all of the brand’s ice cream for Europe. The plant is known for being home to “The Chunkinator,” a reactor that turns ice cream waste into energy. To date, The Chunkinator has produced the power to make over 16 million pints of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream at Hellendoorn. But being the first ice cream maker in the world to use bi-products as a power source was not enough. Ben & Jerry’s was looking for a solution that would enable them to use their warehouses at Hellendoorn more efficiently as well.

Their buffer warehouse was struggling to cope with increasing volumes. Expanding the warehouse would not improve their overall logistics process. They were looking to increase automation, storage and throughput capacity. Reducing labor costs and speeding up truck loading were also high up on their improvement list.

Automating Ben & Jerry’s warehouse with a revolutionary technology

“The moment Ben & Jerry’s hit the ground here in Hellendoorn, we have seen double-digit growth every single year, and keeping our momentum was key and the main driver for optimizing our warehouse.” - John Bestman, Logistics Teamleader

Sumoptim’s OptilogX Sequencing Buffer is a revolutionary technology that was used to automate pallet flows at Ben & Jerry’s warehouse, which houses over 1,000 pallet positions on four levels in roughly 500m2. The warehouse has one elevator for inbound pallets and one for outbound pallets, each with a capacity to move 100 pallets per hour. Trucks are loaded using two docks.

Pallets arrive from production 24 hours a day, and are now stored, buffered and sequenced for loading automatically, without human interference, thanks to Sumoptim’s Sequencing Buffer. Pallets are sorted according to customer orders and placed in the best position to facilitate faster truck loading.

“This is what makes the system great. There is no need for staging lanes or additional floor space to place and sort pallets before they are loaded,” John Bestman explains.

When a truck arrives, Sumoptim’s software selects pallets that meet the SAP order requirements and comply with the relevant business rules, minimizing total retrieval times. The process is fully automated and paperless thanks to Sumoptim’s advanced analytics and machine learning algorithms, helping Ben & Jerry’s deliver happiness in a scoop, much faster than before.

Better for business, people and profit

“We have been able to significantly increase our productivity, storage and throughput capacity within the existing frozen storage area,” comments John Bestman. “Since we are now using just 60% of the space we used before, more area has been freed up for re-packing and storing raw materials. We have economized on FTEs (Full Time Employees) and productivity has increased remarkably, with great benefits for profits.”

With Sumoptim’S Optilog Sequencing Buffer, Ben & Jerry’s is fully prepared to handle future growth in a sustainable way. The company was able to increase its storage capacity by 100% using only 60% of the warehouse’s floor space. They saved 70% in staffing costs. Not to mention they have greater visibility and control over their logistics processes.

But it doesn’t end there. The company saw an 80% reduction in energy consumption and a 60% decrease in CO₂ emissions, boosting the ice cream maker’s commitment to the environment.