Creative solution for maximum speed

Up to 5,000 truck transports depart from the new distribution center every year. Domus Logistics also bundles the activities of five other external partners in Olen. This has a positive impact on the volume of traffic in the region and also protects the environment.

Egemin Automation automates a large part of the in-house transportation with an E'gv system for transporting pallets of CASA products. The new logistics center, which is located directly on the E313 in Olen, is 50,000 m² in size and offers space for 65,000 pallets. The total investment volume of the project amounts to 25 million euros. Commissioning is planned for spring 2017.

With the new distribution center, Domus Logistics is increasing its storage capacity and supplying CASA branches throughout Europe. The company attaches particular importance to an ergonomic working environment for its employees. The logistics center is divided into a buffer warehouse and the picking area. The E'gvs from Egemin move automatically between the two areas. They remove pallets from the buffer warehouse, transport them to the picking area and store new goods.

Domus Logistics

Domus Logistics is the logistics subsidiary of CASA International. CASA is a modern international store concept with branches in eight European countries. CASA offers state-of-the-art furnishings with affordable feel-good products such as decorative items, gifts, household textiles and occasional furniture for in and around the home. Products that make a house a home. The chain was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Itegem.

"We use a total of twelve E'gv hybrid warehouse trucks. Still, our partner in the KION Group for AGV projects with standard vehicles in Europe, supplies the vehicles," says Eric Coenen, Sales Manager at Egemin Automation. "We automate the vehicles with our E'gv Automation Pack and E'tricc, our AGV management software. This enables the autonomous transportation of pallets and their storage and retrieval."

The AGVs remove pallets from the buffer warehouse, transport them to the picking area and store new goods. Photo: Egemin

The goods arriving at the distribution center are delivered by shipping container in cartons. The employees load the cartons onto pallets and feed them to the automatic film wrapper. A fully automated control system then checks the size and dimensions of the goods loaded onto the pallets and assigns them to a suitable storage location. Seven E'gv Hybrid FM-X reach trucks then transport the pallets to the buffer warehouse and store them there. Five E'gv Hybrid MX-X narrow-aisle trucks (VNA) operate in the 32-aisle buffer warehouse to store and retrieve the pallets. If goods are required, an FM-X vehicle transports them from a buffer zone in the warehouse to one of the two conveyor systems, making them available for manual picking.

Space problem elegantly solved

"The customer wanted to use the maximum storage capacity in their buffer warehouse," explains Eric Coenen. "However, for safety reasons, a warehouse concept with driverless transport systems requires a little more space than a conventional warehouse." Domus Logistics would have lost some storage space. This was not an option for the logistics service provider. Egemin therefore developed a creative storage and racking concept to maximize storage capacity. Domus Logistics also had specific requirements in terms of picking speed. In order to meet these and optimize all software processes, Egemin worked closely with the provider of the warehouse management system used. The system integrator integrated the processes into its simulation models, demonstrating that the expected capacity would be achieved. Egemin's E'tricc software receives the transport orders from the warehouse management system and coordinates all trips independently.

Intra says: name? Performance!

In the recent past, Egemin Automation has been talked about more than the company itself has made the headlines. What will the integration into Dematic bring? How customers and competitors will react? I don't know either, dear reader. But what little Intra does know is that with projects as great as Domus Logistics, we need not fear for the company. Because quality always prevails in the end - regardless of the name!

The intensive preparation phase is now coming to an end. Domus Logistics opted for Egemin because of its optimally thought-out and high-performance concept. The system integrator's numerous references from similar projects also played a key role.

www.egemin-automation.com