This project focuses on the food sector—specifically Xiajin Dairy, founded in 1992, which produces over 1200 tons of liquid milk daily. Under the fresh strategy initiative, Xiajin Dairy’s supply chain has undergone a comprehensive upgrade: new farms have been built and put into operation, production lines and equipment have been updated, and warehousing has been transformed to intelligent systems.

In collaboration with Zikoo Robotics, Xiajin Dairy has constructed a “Pallet-to-Person” shuttle racking warehouse. The warehouse spans approximately 4500 square meters, designed to hold around 10,000 finished product storage locations and store up to 1.5 million boxes of liquid milk. It operates 24 hours with high-frequency loading and unloading, reaching a maximum efficiency of 180 pallets/hour. Through the organic integration of intelligent warehousing software and hardware, paired with a digital twin visualization platform, the entire process of the goods—from storage capacity, cost reduction, efficiency enhancement to lean management—shows significant improvements.

To meet the growing market demand for high-share liquid milk, Xiajin Dairy expanded its finished liquid milk intelligent warehouse in Litong District, Wuzhong City, Ningxia, in 2022. It is understood that Xiajin has taken the lead in introducing the world’s most advanced ultra-high-temperature sterilized milk production lines and the world’s fastest liquid milk filling equipment. However, finished product storage has been predominantly a combination of traditional ground stacking and manual forklifts. Realizing that warehousing is a crucial component of a smart factory, the company has taken the initiative to deploy intelligent warehouses to achieve full-process automation and information management from production, packaging, storage to transportation, to further reduce costs, enhance efficiency, and improve the safety and stability of the warehouse working environment.

The warehouse, with a clear height of 13 meters and five levels, is designed with approximately 10,000 pallet locations, mainly for finished liquid milk. Each pallet, exceeding 100 boxes with a height of 2.1 meters and dimensions of 1200*1000mm, can carry a load of 1.2 tons. With an ultra-efficient use of space, the intelligent warehouse’s spatial utilization is three to four times higher than traditional ground stacking methods.

In this project, Zikoo Robotics provides Xiajin Dairy with a one-stop intelligent warehousing solution. Under the dispatch of IWCS and RMS systems, it can realize multi-vehicle scheduling of 15 shuttle cars on the same level, combined with five high-speed lifts for flexible and efficient level-changing operations, along with several conveyance lines, wrapping machines, barcode readers, and shape detectors for a variety of equipment scheduling tasks. The warehouse has two inbound and three outbound docks, catering to 24-hour high-frequency loading and unloading needs, with an efficiency of up to 180 pallets/hour, significantly improving storage efficiency and reducing manual operation costs. Automation in warehousing, coupled with production line to robotic arm automatic palletizing, greatly enhances the lean level of the overall supply chain.

Through the organic integration of intelligent warehousing software and hardware, coupled with a digital twin visualization platform, full-process data synchronization and traceability are achievable. On one hand, the warehouse IWMS system is integrated with the SAP system for full-process order data synchronization, automatically dispatching inbound and outbound tasks, and consolidating orders for outbound according to transport routes. On the other hand, from the end of production, goods are digitally coded for precise traceability. Integrated industrial barcode data collection systems transmit information to IWCS, where robotic arms paired with vision perform automatic stacking. The IWCS system binds the start and end goods codes with the pallet codes based on the timing relationship, while the palletizing information is synchronized to the IWMS system, allowing forklift operators to retrieve tasks efficiently on the operation terminal PAD.

Furthermore, the IWMS system also supports zone control for flat and high-rise warehouses, unified inventory allocation, significantly enhancing order fulfillment efficiency. By setting up near-expiry alerts, effective near-expiry food management is realized, with batch-by-batch food inspection management, and full-process information traceability of goods, aiding the enterprise to transition from a traditional “production and processing” type to an “intelligent manufacturing + service” type that provides full lifecycle product solutions.

Deputy General Manager of Zikoo Robotics, stated: “We are honored to assist Xiajin Dairy in the digital upgrade of their warehousing and logistics segment. Throughout the project implementation, both parties have cooperated closely. This project operates 24 hours with high-frequency loading and unloading, utilizing the overall capacity of the warehouse to its fullest, with significant results in storage capacity, cost reduction, and lean management. The project design is highly suitable for the food industry, with a certain replicability, and can also be reused in other Xiajin Dairy factories. We believe it will also provide a reference sample for the food industry to upgrade warehousing efficiency.