Servus as a hub for the retailer

Whether ordered online or purchased locally in one of the five professional centers in Switzerland, the items were first transported by one of the 23 Servus transport robots to a dynamic intermediate buffer and then taken just-in-time for packaging. Five years ago, the Winterthur-based company asked itself how logistics processes could be made more flexible, cost-effective and professional. Today, the Servus system transports and buffers 80 percent of the 35,000 items in the wholesaler's range. The Servus system extends over two floors. The autonomous transport robots travel overhead below the ceiling, leaving the valuable floor space free. Servus takes over the interim storage of partial orders. There was no need to build a warehouse for this. Servus simply uses its route as a warehouse. There are storage locations to the left and right along the route, which are used for the dynamic interim buffering of partial orders. Only when all partial orders have been picked does Servus transport them to the packaging area at the right moment.

The facts

23 Autonomous Robotic Carriers (ARC3) 1068 storage locations along the route 35,000 items in Hasler's product range 80% of all items are transported and stored using the Servus system

Hasler + Co AGHeadquarters: Winterthur (CH) Industry: Hardware trade Employees: 240

Servus Intralogistics GmbHHeadquarters: Dornbirn (AT) Industry: Intralogistics Employees: 265

Convincing flexibility of the system

Servus takes over the intermediate buffering of partial orders. Photo: Servus

Why did they choose Servus? "The decisive factor was the great flexibility of the system," says Robert Hinnen, Head of Logistics at Hasler, looking to the future: "If we grow, the Servus system will grow with us. We can then expand it very easily and in full operation." This is possible because all the intelligence and energy is built into the transport robots, while the track consists purely of carrier profiles. This also allows the power to be regulated as required. If more power is required, additional ARCs (Autonomous Robotic Carriers) can simply be placed on the route. "The system remains as simple as ever," says Servus owner and Managing Director Christian Beer and continues: "Servus is organized decentrally and works like a cab company in Manhattan. The cab control center assigns a ride order to the cab with the shortest route to the source address. The transport robot then decides for itself the quickest way to get to the source and then to the destination. It doesn't matter whether there are 10 or 100 cabs on the road."

Workshop as the basis for success

And it is precisely this flexibility that Hasler has just taken advantage of. The capacity of the system, which has been in operation since 2015, has now been doubled in a first step. Specifically, 543 additional storage locations were installed, over 100 meters of new track were installed and 6 new ARCs were registered in the system. Normal operations were not disrupted at all - commissioning took place over the weekend.

The i-point for order picking is clearly laid out and very user-friendly. Photo: Servus

The expansion of the system was taken into account from the outset in the overall concept, which was developed in a joint workshop. "The workshop was not only important for the Servus system, but was also of central importance for the revision of our entire logistics processes," explains Hinnen.

Everything from a single source

Servus Intralogistics plans, manufactures and installs customized turnkey intralogistics systems based on its modular logistics system. From simple assembly automation for all manufacturing operations to warehouse systems for retailers and complete in-house logistics. The Servus intralogistics modular system adapts precisely to the respective requirements. At the heart of the modular system are the intelligent and autonomous transport robots "Autonomous Robotic Carrier" (ARC3). The Servus ARCs can transport cartons, boxes and trays as well as bulk goods and customer-specific workpieces up to a maximum payload of 50 kg. In contrast to conventional shuttles, the Servus transport robots can drive out of the warehouse and transport the material to any desired area in the company. This eliminates interfaces between warehouse and production logistics.

www.servus.info