With 2 Modula VLMs, Mezzacorona optimizes the storage and handling of large rolls of wine labels
Case Summary
Mezzacorona Group, an Italian cooperative of winemakers, needed a better way to storage and handling the wine labels it attached to bottles during production. Stored on traditional racks, the labels were easily deteriorating. Without an efficient inventory system, operators were having trouble locating the correct labels. Moreover, due to their heavyweight, the large rolls of labels were tiresome for the operators to transport to the production line. Installing two Modula vertical lift modules (VLMs) allowed the company to fully protect the labels, simplify and speed retrieval and ease the physical burden on operators. The wine-maker also saved space and continually learned of the VLMs’ performance and maintenance needs with Modula Cloud.
The Challenge: Finding an effective way to store and handle large rolls of wine labels
Formed in 1904, the Mezzacorona Group is a cooperative of 1,600 vintners located in the northern Italian province of Trentino and bottling wines for six regional brands. Reels of labels that are to be attached to the bottles during production were stored on traditional shelving. Exposed to air and dust, they would deteriorate over time. Workers had to hunt across the storage area to retrieve the reels. Each 13-inch (330 mm) reel weighs up to 44 pounds (20 kg), so hoisting them from shelves became a strenuous routine for Mezzacarona’s production staff. The process also was prone to picking errors and the resultant inefficiencies.
The reels took up a fair amount of storage space as well, occupying 2,300 square feet (700 square meters) of floor space that could be used for other purposes.
The Solution: Install two Modula VLMs and Modula Cloud to monitor performance
Mezzacorona purchased a pair of Modula Lift ML75Ds, seeing immediate benefits when the required floor space shrunk to 307 square feet (28.59 square meters), a reduction of 87%. The switch also greatly helped production, allowing workers to retrieve the required wine labels at the punch of a button the VLMs’ touchscreen monitors. The heavy label reels were delivered to them at the ergonomically correct height and thus reduced the strain of retrieving them.
Because the VLMs are fully enclosed, the harmful effects of the environment – air and dust – were minimized and the 1,000-plus reels of labels were preserved. Mezzacorona also wanted to make sure their Modula Lifts were properly serviced, so they purchased a Modula Cloud software license to establish a predictive maintenance schedule and avoid unexpected downtimes. The Cloud also gave the organization continual updates on how the machines were being used – their picking speed, cycles, energy use and total retrieval “missions.”
