SELAH, WA - Rainier Fruit Company’s sister warehouse, Matson Fruit Company, has completed construction on what it calls the NW fruit industry’s first automated storage and shipping facility.
The facility was designed using the latest Automated Storage Retrieval System (ASRS) technology and utilizes a Warehouse Management System (WMS) to automatically retrieve fruit pallets from one of the 4,060 positions of the cold storage rack configuration. “This system enables Matson Fruit to be more productive and responsive to customer specifications, and the significant energy savings reduces our impact on the environment,” said Suzanne Wolter, Director of Marketing.
Check out the video below for a quick look at the new facility!
At 73 feet, the building is now the tallest in Selah, WA, yet the overall footprint is smaller, resulting in a more efficient cooling process, according to a press release. The automated cranes also require fewer forklift doors, thus reducing energy loss and limiting lighting usage, and the lighting selected utilizes 99.9% LEDs.
The new system incorporates purchase order history, labeling needs, grade and size requirements, and available inventory. This one-view process allows an operator to double-check the WMS selections before sending the palletized fruit automatically over to QC for a final look prior to shipment. Once the truck arrives, the ASRS pulls the awaiting fruit and stages it for loading.
Congrats on the completion of the new facility, Rainier and Matson Fruit!
