Panabad streamlines overnight order picking at -20 °C
The frozen bakery products company implements Mecalux’s Easy WMS to ensure full inventory traceability
Panabad, a frozen bread and pastry manufacturer, has opened a 2,500 m² logistics centre in Sant Quirze del Vallès. The facility integrates Easy WMS to manage 200 SKUs at -20 °C and optimise overnight order picking for more than 2,000 clients.
Panabad: Bread with a legacy
From its production facility in Sabadell (near Barcelona), Panabad manufactures and distributes frozen bread, pastry and cake products. Its specialties are supplied to businesses in industries such as hospitality, food-service, catering, and retail distribution. Founded in 1912, Panabad employs 190 people. With 20 delivery routes across the Barcelona area, the company provides fast and efficient service to its customers.
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Frozen food company Panabad has opened a new logistics centre in Sant Quirze del Vallès (near Barcelona) to support its future growth. The 2,500 m² facility incorporates Mecalux’s Easy WMS warehouse management system, which oversees more than 200 SKUs of pre-cooked frozen bread products.
“We opened a new logistics centre because our business volume has continued to grow,” says Julián Martín, General Manager of Panabad. “We currently process over 7,000 tonnes of flour a year to manufacture products distributed to more than 2,000 clients. This growth pushed us to take the next step: we needed a better-organised logistics setup, more precise traceability control and more efficient product distribution.”
Overnight order picking
Panabad’s entire daily operation revolves around order processing. The company handles two types of orders: full-pallet shipments and mixed pallets built from specific SKUs according to each client’s needs.
Order picking typically begins at 10:00 p.m. to ensure early morning distribution. Starting at 3:00 a.m., delivery vans arrive at the facility to collect the bread, pastry and cake products from the dispatch area. Panabad operates its own fleet of 20 vehicles throughout the Barcelona region. Deliveries to other parts of Spain are handled by transport providers that also operate in the early morning hours.
The warehouse operates at -20 °C, making it essential to minimise the amount of time employees spend inside the facility. “Each operator receives a pick path on their RF terminal designed to eliminate unnecessary travel. By following instructions from Easy WMS, they fill orders faster and reduce their exposure to low temperatures,” says Martín.
Managing more than 200 SKUs
At Panabad’s logistics centre, Easy WMS comprehensively monitors the facility’s 200-plus SKUs. “We’ve always maintained product traceability to comply with industry regulations. With Mecalux’s digital solution, we’ve increased accuracy and minimised the possibility of error,” says Martín.
Easy WMS records every pallet received at the warehouse and assigns it a location based on product turnover and volume. For example, heavier products are stored in lower rack positions to simplify handling and improve safety when loading and unloading.
Optimised storage space
One of Panabad’s goals for its new warehouse was to accommodate the largest possible number of goods. Mecalux installed two high-density solutions with a capacity for more than 3,000 pallets: push-back racking and Movirack mobile racking.
The push-back racks feature slightly inclined lanes that enable accumulative product storage. When a pallet is removed from the front position, the remaining units automatically move forward by gravity, speeding up loading and unloading operations. Martín says: “Storing and retrieving pallets from the push-back racks is simple.”
Movirack mobile racking, meanwhile, is a compact system designed to maximise pallet capacity within limited floor space. The racks are mounted on motorised mobile bases that move automatically to open aisles and enable access to products. “It’s an intuitive solution that requires very little training. The mobile racking system has introduced a new way of working for us, and we’re very satisfied with the results,” says Martín.
A major step forward in logistics management
By commissioning its new logistics centre and digitalising its operations, Panabad has established a more organised operating model to continue meeting market demands. The combination of high-density storage systems and the comprehensive control provided by Easy WMS gives the company a solid foundation for future growth.
By following instructions from Easy WMS, operators fill orders faster and reduce their exposure to low temperatures
Gallery
Panabad has opened a new logistics centre equipped with Mecalux’s Easy WMS
Products used in this project
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