Cosmetics, Supply Chain, Warehouse Automation, Logistics Software, Natura Brazil Cosmetics

Natura Brazil Cosmetics is Brazil's biggest company for cosmetics, toiletries, perfumes and drugstore articles. It provides over 100 million customers in Latin America and Europe with its products. In order to be able to guarantee the high degree of customer satisfaction and to also reduce errors within the logistics chain, Natura assigned the general contractor SSI Schaefer for the planning and implementation of a logistics hub in Itupeva, São Paulo (Brazil).

This distribution centre, with a storage area of 35,000 m2 and a capacity to store 3.6 million bins, is the biggest hub within the Natura logistics network. It provides two further hubs, all international companies as well as twelve distribution centres with Natura products. Twenty truck loads are handled daily thanks to an automated unloading system for trucks which was especially designed for Natura. This automated unloading system can transport 48 pallets simultaneously and unload them in less than 5 minutes fully automatically.

In incoming goods, all pallets and loading units are checked for conformity at an inspection station before being stored in a vertical warehouse with 13 storage-retrieval machines of the type Exyz. The storage and retrieval process at the 90,000 pallet locations is extremely energy-efficient. Retrieval is handled by the flexible multi-level shuttle system Navette, which consists of twenty individual warehouse shuttles. The system organises more than 1000 different Natura products directly in the outgoing goods and depalletisation areas.

Afterwards the trucks are loaded fully automatically. During retrieval mixed pallets can be created. This reduces the time needed for loading and helps to economise room for loading on the truck. The logistics software WAMAS by SSI Schaefer takes care of the administration, control and optimisation of the entire logistics process in the hub. 3,000 pallets leave the hub on a daily basis to be shipped all over the word.

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