Modernization for an always efficient "flow"

We asked a number of manufacturing companies from which industries they are predominantly engaged for conveyor technology modernizations, for what reasons users consider them necessary and which trades require regular modernization. As the well-founded answers from the experts show, this topic is a perennial issue.

"From which industries do you currently receive the most inquiries for conveyor technology modernization?" was the first question. "E-commerce is currently the top growth driver for many modernization measures," emphasizes René Sickler, Director Dematic Services. "It runs through markets in which multi-channel and same-day delivery are dominant competitive themes. E-commerce is therefore clearly one of our focus sectors. We have the intralogistics answers here to increase efficiency. The clothing industry is faced with particular logistical challenges due to its fast pace, strong seasonal influences, promotion-related peaks and resource-intensive returns management," continues Sickler. "As a result, we are increasingly receiving modernization requests from the apparel sector. The situation is similar in Durable Manufacturing, where requirements are moving more towards just-in-time, time savings, ergonomics as well as material flow and storage space optimization.

"The most important driver of innovation in conveyor technology is the flourishing e-commerce business, including for modernizations."

Jörg Mandelatz Interroll Photo: Interroll

"Gebhardt has been a generalist and provider of complete systems for many years," says Philipp Sigmann, Head of After-Sales Service at Gebhardt Fördertechnik. "That's why we have customers and experience from almost all industries, both for new systems and for modernization. The automotive and pharmaceutical industries stand out in particular.

As Markus Augeneder, Managing Director at TGW Logistics Group, explains, "TGW offers solutions for all industries, but we have identified the following core industries for the TGW Group: Apparel, Grocery and General Merchandise. We currently receive the most inquiries for conveyor modernization from the textile, general merchandise and manufacturing sectors".

"The most important driver of investment in conveyor technology is the flourishing e-commerce business, including modernization projects," says Jörg Mandelatz, Managing Director of Interroll Fördertechnik GmbH in Wermelskirchen, who is responsible for sales in Central Europe. "In addition, the food, fashion and courier, express and parcel services sectors are also very active and are driving forward the optimization of material flow. This also applies to many airports in Europe that want to improve the performance, security and reliability of their baggage handling processes.

"Our sorting and distribution systems are used in airports, parcel and mail distribution centers, warehouses and distribution centers in particular," adds Guido Hesse, Head of Customer Support at the Beumer Group.

As the comprehensive answers to the question "What are the main reasons why your customers are asking for conveyor technology upgrades?" show, new market requirements, increased performance and greater flexibility are among the main drivers.

"The driving force for modernization measures in conveyor technology is primarily to be seen in the optimization of internal material flows," states René Sickler. "Dematic is a competent partner for the adequate adaptation of conveyor technology to the intralogistics status quo: In addition to efficiency increases, we also focus on flexibilization potential with the customer. Individualization trends in the supply chain are also playing an increasingly important role and require appropriate adjustments.

"There can be many reasons for a modernization request," says Philipp Sigmann. "They range from an expected or required increase in performance to product discontinuations that affect the supply of spare parts. System availability is always a key issue for every customer. In order to maintain this at a consistently high level over long periods of operation, preventative measures are necessary, as well as complete or partial modernizations".

"The markets are changing rapidly and our customers must always be at the cutting edge of technology in order to meet the requirements of the market and their customers. These are the main reasons for modernization," emphasizes Markus Augeneder. "In addition, conveyor technology modernizations or expansions optimize the material flow, connect new areas or network different areas with each other."

"Scalability, lower operating costs and a better environmental balance are key issues for most users, which are leading to a continuous increase in interest in 24-volt drive solutions," explains Mandelatz. "In addition, the desire for flexible solutions that can handle the greatest possible variety of weights and volumes plays an important role. Examples include sorter end points, where our mechanically operating magnetic speed controller replaces conventional driven solutions. Another reason for modernization is the intention to further increase the throughput of goods with modern sorters and to optimize the material flow with intelligent control systems for zero pressure accumulation applications".

"In order to meet future performance and technology requirements, our Beumer Customer Support ensures that the systems are always up to date," explains Hesse. "We modernize the systems comprehensively. This enables the operator to achieve higher performance and availability, minimized energy consumption, more ergonomic working conditions, new functions and improved system utilization."

"We receive the most inquiries for conveyor technology modernization for airports, parcel and mail distribution centers and distribution centers, among others."

Guido Hesse Beumer Group Photo: Beumer Group

The answers to the question "In your experience, which conveyor technology systems or system components require regular modernization?" focus on market and customer requirements.

"The system components in incoming and outgoing goods require regular modernization. There is a lot of pressure in the loading area around the clock, which implies high loads, so a lot of attention needs to be paid to maintenance and modernization here," emphasizes Sickler.

"It is not so much wear and tear as the goal of optimizing material flows or adapting them to changing requirements that leads to recurring modernization projects. The latter increasingly include picking and packing in order to achieve higher throughput, which brings us back to e-commerce requirements. Fast order processing is the top priority. Seasonal, promotion-induced and daily order fluctuations also require short response times. This is where the need for rework arises for our customers.

As Philipp Sigmann emphasizes, "this is a question of the requirements and expectations of our customers in their daily business. Examples show that systems do their job for 20 or even 30 years without modernization, but with the same requirements, such as performance. Supported by appropriate preventive measures, this service life is no exception.

"Our conveyor technology is generally very durable, especially the particularly energy-efficient TGW KingDrive technology," emphasizes Markus Augeneder. Lifters, transfer cars and storage and retrieval machines are technically more complex than normal conveyor technology and should therefore be well maintained or checked and modernized if necessary. It is also important to keep an eye on control components that are no longer available, as a failure causes a longer system downtime. Timely modernization is essential".

Replaced during operation: At TK-Center Birrfeld AG in Switzerland, Siemens replaced an existing sorter solution with the Interroll sorter in just 52 hours. Photo: Interroll

"Many users realize that they should keep an eye on the drive issue. Innovations offer advantages here, for example the switch from 400-volt to 24-volt technology or from geared to more compact drum motors," emphasizes Mandelatz. "The topic of control systems is also becoming an area of ongoing modernization strategies. The use of decentralized, digital bus systems plays an important role here".

"Material flow technology is becoming increasingly complex and intralogistics equipment and systems must therefore be able to perform ever more flexible tasks," emphasizes Hesse. "This is particularly true for online retailers, who are faced with various challenges such as individual delivery times or same-day delivery. Another characteristic of e-commerce is the atomization of shipments. This places high demands on the software in particular. It must be possible to expand it as required in order to optimize material flows at any time. We can tailor our modular high-performance sorting systems to the requirements of the operators and equip them with additional modules if required - for example manual feed stations or semi-automatic infeed systems. In addition, mechanical system components are also modernized if the operator wants to increase performance or save energy.

The answers to the question "Which of your recent conveyor technology modernization projects would you highlight in particular?" provide examples from a wide range of industries. "Major projects ranged from sportswear, dairies, pharmaceuticals and production to furniture fittings," reports René Sickler. "Among the latter, I would like to highlight Julius Blum GmbH. It specializes in the manufacture and sale of home and kitchen fittings as well as movement technologies for opening and closing furniture. The headquarters of the internationally active company is in Höchst, Austria.

The system components in incoming and outgoing goods require regular modernization. Photo: Dematic

Plants 1 to 7 are located here and in the surrounding area. As Sickler emphasizes, "Blum has been automating and expanding warehouses with Dematic for around two decades. The entire Dematic product range was implemented at various locations and renewed as required. The conveyor technology in Plant 2 had to be adapted accordingly in the course of modernization and expansion measures. In the pre-zone, this was added on both sides of the high-bay warehouse. An additional level was also added to accommodate even more conveyor technology, so that the modernization package comprised a total of 146 conveyors.

Gebhardt is currently "replacing five storage and retrieval machines at a leading car manufacturer. This is nothing special at first," says Sigmann, "but when you know that the warehouse is located in an overbuilt basement, it becomes interesting. "We are constantly working on modernizing our customer systems. We can particularly highlight a project in the General Merchandise area, in which various automated warehouses, including conveyor technology, were modernized," reports Augeneder. "During the modernization, new conveyor technology was also installed in the system and adapted to the new market requirements." "System integrators and system manufacturers use the key components from our product portfolio, which is based on one platform, all over the world," explains Mandelatz. "Every project has its own special challenges and characteristics. However, the solutions that we have implemented together with our partners at TK-Center Birrfeld AG and the Popken Fashion Group are certainly worth mentioning".

"There are a lot of exciting projects," reports Guido Hesse. "For example, our British Group company has modernized the conveyor belts for baggage reclaim in the arrivals hall for international flights at Glasgow Airport. Upgrading the baggage handling systems was part of the overall modernization of the airport."

The answers to the question "What special requirements - technical and/or time-related - had to be overcome?" were led by the time-related challenges. "It lies in the very short time frames available for implementing the modernizations," emphasizes Sickler. "Plant shutdowns of more than two weeks are rare. In the food sector, we are even more flexible: working in parallel while the e-commerce warehouse is fully operational or, at best, one hour per conversion step are the general conditions."

"A very detailed conversion plan and close coordination of all trades are crucial for successful implementation," says Sickler. "The software has to be repeatedly imported and reset. We use emulation and simulation to identify critical points in advance."

"It's always a challenge to sift through the 'old' documentation," says Sigmann. "Especially the documentation from the age before digitalization, CAD, etc. can be difficult to classify. Another point is the increased safety requirements and how these can be integrated into 'old systems'."

The tower storage units act as order buffers for the Pick@Ease workstations. Photo: Vanderlande

Fit for the future with the latest intralogistics technologies

The Förch Group, one of the leading suppliers of workshop, assembly and fastening products for trade and industry, has equipped its logistics capacities and performance for the future in an impressive modernization and expansion marathon. Intralogistics expert Vanderlande expanded the existing logistics center in 2010 and 2012 without interrupting operations. In addition, a new logistics center was built in 2014/2015, which went into operation in April 2016. Its key features include the use of the Quickstore Microshuttle system, which "allows additional shuttles to be quickly and easily integrated into the individual aisles at any time". The highly ergonomic picking workstations of the Pick@Ease family are equipped with a newly developed device for the quick change of source and target containers, which takes less than two seconds. The new logistics center also has a completely redesigned order start, from which order trays can approach each individual picking area in the old and new logistics center. And thanks to the completely variable conveyor connection of the picking workstations to the new micro shuttle warehouse, the workstations are now supplied with article trays more flexibly.

"It is essential for our customers that downtimes are as short as possible and that they are optimally coordinated with the customer's processes," emphasizes Augeneder. "TGW uses the latest technology for modernization. The aim here is to create a good connection between the existing technology and the modern technology in order to ensure a smooth transition and long-term availability of processes. The modernization of the control system is just as important here as the higher-level Warehouse Management System (WMS), which unites the entire "new" system".

"At TK-Center Birrfeld AG in Switzerland, we were able to support the system integrator, Siemens Postal, Parcel & Airport Logistics AG, with the delivery and installation of a high-performance cross-belt sorter," explains Jörg Mandelatz. "This was an extremely challenging modernization project because the existing solution had to be completely replaced within just 52 hours during ongoing business operations. The Popken Fashion Group's task was to modernize the entire returns area. Thanks to the use of our modular conveyor platform, productivity was increased by 30 percent.

"A particular challenge of the project at Glasgow Airport was to replace the baggage conveyor belts during ongoing operations - while avoiding delays in airport operations. We succeeded," reports Hesse.

Reinhard Irrgang