Martin's Famous Pastry Shoppe, Inc.

Since its founding in the 1950s, the company has grown from a small bakery in the family’s garage to a global manufacturer serving 16 countries with customers ranging from retail stores to institutions.

Martin’s® chose Westfalia Technologies, Inc.’s (Westfalia) automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) design, which included an automated layer picking system and truck staging lanes.

Westfalia’s high-density AS/RS stores pallets of reserve product in a rack structure six pallets deep, housing approximately 2,000 pallets. Two tandem storage and retrieval machines (S/RMs), with independent movable cabs for safer and easier maintenance, store and retrieve pallets to and from the rack structure. The AS/RS is integrated with Cimcorp’s MultiPick System, a fully automated, robotic material handling solution, picking system, and Westfalia’s out-feed conveyor system. This combination enables the fast fulfillment of single and multi-SKU orders.

Westfalia’s Savanna.NET® Warehouse Execution System orchestrates the entire operation, maintaining the inventory in both the AS/RS and the MultiPick system. In order to increase order accuracy and product traceability, the WES is integrated with Martin’s® order processing and enterprise systems.

Dan Labell, president, Westfalia Technologies, said, “With a growing, diverse number of SKUs, seasonal products, and complex orders, food manufacturers can more effectively manage and track inventory with automation technology. Westfalia’s AS/RS, integrated with our Savanna.NET® WES, has helped Martin’s® achieve these benefits, while providing additional operational efficiencies, cost savings, and a competitive advantage.”

With Westfalia’s AS/RS and Savanna.NET® WES, Martin’s® Chambersburg, Pennsylvania facility has increased its space utilization by 50 percent and is more efficiently storing, retrieving and managing pallets of finished goods. The automated layer pick solution has improved labor efficiency by 50 percent, while ensuring 95 percent order accuracy. Since the system allows the company to take orders up until the last minute with complete accuracy, it has eliminated the need for reloads – dramatically increasing throughput times for outbound orders. In addition, the new system provides Martin’s® with a complete visibility that enables the company to conduct field to fork traceability that exceeds FDA standards.”