Refresco France renews its trust in Alstef Group for the replacement of its AGV fleet
Alstef Group at Refresco
- Location : Saint-Alban-Les-Eaux (FR, 42)
- Supply : 6 AGV CM3
- Industry : Agro-alimentaire

Refresco France upgrades its facilities by replacing its fleet of Alstef Group AGVs with 6 new models for increased productivity.
Refresco France is the independent world leader in bottling, producing more than one billion units each year on 6 production sites in France. They are specialized in the production of soft drinks (still and carbonated beverages, waters, tea drinks, pure fruit juices, nectars, etc.) for private labels and national and international brands.
In order to cope with the growth of the Saint-Alban-Les-Eaux plant (42), Refresco France has decided to upgrade its existing AGV installation for new generation vehicles. The site counts 250 employees, 4 production lines and an overall storage capacity of 40,000 pallets.

A quick renewal of the AGV fleet without any downtime
Alstef Group has answered to this major challenge: to implement the new system in a very short time without any production downtime. A challenge successfully accomplished by the teams involved in the project who installed the new equipment in only 4 days. Six CM3s have now been set at the Saint-Alban-les-Eaux production site, replacing the 10 previous CM3s that had been in operation since 2004. The new fleet takes advantage of the latest Alstef Group technologies and allows the plant to gain in efficiency while reducing the number of vehicles.
These Motorized Conveyor AGVs, designed for high production rates, have a load capacity of 3 pallets. Their operation is optimal and meets Refresco’s expectations for 24/7 operation. Their automatic battery charging system provides them with a foolproof autonomy.

This fleet of AGVs operates in the two storage areas of the site. After bottling, product packaging and palletizing, it is now the AGVs’ turn to play their role by taking charge of the pallets of finished products. The autonomous AGV fleet transports more than 200 pallets per hour from the end of the lines to the storage area.
The control system developed by Alstef Group manages the interfaces and allocates in real time the transport orders to the CM3 while taking into account the complexity of the different flows whether they are forklifts or pedestrians.
A confirmed confidence
Refresco France has 18 years partnership with Alstef Group | BA Systèmes. The Group supports them in their automation projects on two sites in France, Saint -Alban-les-Eaux (42) and Margès (26). Both are equipped with Alstef Group AGVs and benefit from the sales and technical teams’ support who ensure the performance and reactivity of the systems.
“Availability and responsiveness define Alstef Group.
The team is proactive and provide personalized support”,
explains Jean-Christophe Parret, Project Manager for Refresco France.