Goods-to-machine principle

Rosenberger Hochfrequenztechnik GmbH & Co KG in Fridolfing has decided to automate its material transport and is relying on the intralogistics modular system from the Dornbirn-based company Servus Intralogistics GmbH. Following the successful commissioning of the Servus system at the sites in Germany and Hungary, the next expansion steps are currently being implemented.

For more than half a century, the name Rosenberger has been associated with state-of-the-art technology, quality and creativity. The Bavarian family business also applies these standards to its partners. The company chronicle of the specialist for high-frequency technology reads like a single success story. 14,000 end products - from batch sizes of 1 to millions - are produced at the Fridolfing site every year.

In order to cope with years of sustained growth and to be prepared for the future, Rosenberger launched the "Hybrid" project, one of the aims of which was to improve the value stream. "Our aim was to have fast intralogistics with production supply," recalls Albert Staller, Head of Supply Chain at Rosenberger.

Servus connects several halls

In the search for modern transport and storage technology, Rosenberger therefore came across the Servus system. "With Servus, we have found an innovative intralogistics system," says Project Manager Roman Fritzenwenger and explains: "Servus is an extension of the goods-to-man principle. The goods come directly to the assembly robot or assembly line."

24 autonomous Servus transport robots (Autonomous Robotic Carrier, ARC3) now ensure an efficient material flow across several halls between incoming goods, order picking, production, miniload and outgoing goods.

Finding the right concept in a workshop

A joint workshop in the run-up to the project, in which the concept for the correct design of the material flow was worked out, proved particularly successful. This resulted in the placement of the work stations around the decentralized Servus stations. In this concept, only three Servus stations are needed to supply 23 automatic assembly machines, five Bihler automatic systems and all manual workstations with the right material at the right time.

"Our goal was to have fast intralogistics with production supply" - Albert Staller, Head of Supply Chain at Rosenberger

As a further result of the workshop, Rosenberger merged various manual warehouses into an automated small parts warehouse (AKL). By closing external warehouses and eliminating Kanban racks, a lot of space was saved in the warehouse area. In addition, the Rosenberger site in Hungary is served from the new Servus AKL.

However, the space savings achieved with the introduction of the Servus system are not limited to the warehouse area. Valuable space has also been freed up for productive purposes in production, as the transport robots cover 90 percent of their routes overhead and material stocks have been reduced to a minimum.

The introduction of Servus has also increased process reliability. The automation on the one hand, and the simple handling of the user interfaces at the Servus stations on the other, led to a drastic reduction in customer complaints.

Servus installed at two locations

As the concept proved successful at the Fridolfing site, it was also installed one-to-one at the second production site in Hungary, where 15 intelligent and autonomous transport robots now ensure an efficient flow of materials between incoming goods, order picking, miniload, production and outgoing goods.

Meanwhile, new processes and areas are being connected step by step in Fridolfing. Because Servus is controlled decentrally and the ARCs operate autonomously with swarm intelligence, the system can be expanded at any time in full operation. For example, new Servus stations and a new building housing the electroplating department are currently being connected. The simple scalability of the Servus system gives Rosenberger maximum flexibility for future developments.

Despite the growth and the associated expansions with the simultaneous implementation of the "Hybrid" project and the automation of intralogistics, Rosenberger can point to a delivery reliability of over 96 percent. This is one of the reasons why the hidden champion from Bavaria is confident that it has the right partner at its side in Servus Intralogistics: "With Servus, we have found a flexible system that works efficiently according to lean principles. Thanks to the creativity of the Servus and project team, we have developed and launched completely new possibilities and perspectives in logistics for the future," says Albert Staller, Head of Supply Chain Management.

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