Key takeaways:
- Barilla’s Pedrignano plant has introduced an automated lorry-loading system based on laser-guided LGVs.
- The vehicles carry pallets from the dispatch area directly into the trailer.
- Dock equipment locks the vehicle in place and keeps it stable during loading.
- The solution was integrated with the plant’s existing warehouse infrastructure.
- More than 100 LGVs are now in operation at the site.
- Earlier increases in storage capacity eliminated more than 3,000 annual lorry journeys to external warehouses.
The new system went live at the end of September at Barilla’s Pedrignano facility, the group’s largest pasta plant. It automates the final stage of the outbound process, linking the finished-goods warehouse and dispatch area with the trailer.
Laser-guided vehicles are central to the operation. They collect the pallets and enter the trailer with the load, extending automation beyond the loading-bay entrance and into the vehicle itself.
The vehicle must be secured before loading
Automated loading requires the trailer to remain firmly in position. At Pedrignano, Barilla uses locking and stabilising equipment developed with Rite-Hite, a manufacturer of loading-bay systems.
The equipment prevents the vehicle from moving and provides stable conditions while the LGVs enter the trailer. Barilla has also reconfigured some of its loading bays. Company representatives say that improving safety and maintaining greater control over the loading operation were among the reasons for introducing the system.
Less manual work at the loading bay
Barilla has not disclosed how much time the system saves per lorry or whether it has reduced queues outside the plant. The main change is how the loading operation is carried out.
Goods move between the warehouse and the dispatch area through an automated internal system before the LGVs place the pallets directly inside the trailer. The SM.I.LE80 platform manages the flow from the receipt of raw materials through to the shipment of finished goods. For drivers, the key difference is that a forklift operator is no longer required to move the pallets inside the trailer. Neither Barilla nor the technology supplier has specified exactly which tasks remain with the driver when the vehicle is positioned at the loading bay.
A system already used in the United States
E80 Group, the solution provider, says it has been using similar automated lorry-loading and unloading systems in the United States for more than a decade, mainly at fast-moving consumer goods facilities. At Pedrignano, the technology was adapted to the plant’s existing infrastructure.
This made it possible to add automated loading to an operating warehouse rather than build an entirely new facility around the system.
More than 100 LGVs at one plant
The automated loading system is the latest development in Pedrignano’s warehouse operations. In 2013, Barilla opened a 40,000-square-metre warehouse with 80,000 pallet locations and 54 LGVs. At the time, the facility handled roughly one-quarter of Barilla’s global volumes and around 120 lorries a day.
A decade later, the site covered 165,000 square metres, the LGV fleet had grown to 107 vehicles and 35 robotic devices — including palletisers, labellers and wrapping machines — supported the operation. The plant now has more than 100 LGVs.
Automation has reduced inter-warehouse lorry movements
The earlier expansion of storage capacity also affected transport demand. By relying less on external warehouses, Barilla says it eliminated more than 3,000 lorry journeys each year that had previously been needed to move goods between the plant and external facilities.
The example shows how changes inside a warehouse can influence transport volumes and traffic around a site, rather than affecting only internal handling processes.
Loading at the bay is no longer entirely manual
In many automated warehouses, the equipment stops once pallets reach the dispatch area, leaving people to load the trailer. At Pedrignano, the final step has also been automated. This does not mean that every carrier will operate in the same way, but it points to a broader change in how the handover between the warehouse and the vehicle may be organised.
As warehouse automation advances, the equipment inside the facility will be only part of the process. Vehicle restraints, loading-bay layouts and trailer compatibility will also become increasingly important for automated handling.
