Over 1,000 registered patents and property rights are proof of Wenko's innovative strength. Together with trend scouts, inventors and designers, around 500 new products are developed every year - in line with the company motto "The better idea". The portfolio of the medium-sized company, which markets its range in over eighty countries around the world, comprises around 6,000 products that are used in the household, primarily in the bathroom, kitchen, laundry and living areas.

Flexible automation solution
Wenko also focuses on innovation when it comes to material flow: customers from stationary retail, traditional mail order and e-commerce are supplied via the company's own logistics hub, the modern logistics center in Baal, near Düsseldorf. Following a comprehensive expansion project for interim storage and order picking, which was completed in just 18 months, the distribution center now has a total area of 32,000 square meters. It ensures that the global flow of goods to customers runs quickly and smoothly.

"For our company, an efficient material flow has always been one of the strategic business success factors. Its importance has increased even further due to flourishing e-commerce. At the same time, there is a trend towards just-in-time deliveries, more individual orders and minimization of stocks in the retail sector. We have therefore decided to expand our central logistics center by building an additional hall. The aim was to modernize interim storage and order picking with an automation solution and to design it flexibly to meet the challenges of the future," explains Philip Köllner, Managing Director of Wenko-Wenselaar GmbH & Co KG. "It wasn't just about increasing efficiency and productivity, but above all about even better delivery times and services for our growing customer base."

Trusting cooperation between the project partners
The detailed planning of the project with regard to technical feasibility was carried out by the system integrator REMA TEC. REMA TEC is a system integrator for material flow solutions that is part of the international Rolling on Interroll partner network. Peter Dippel, Managing Director of REMA TEC: "Our comprehensive project expertise and our flexibility as a small, medium-sized company enable us to successfully implement even demanding large-scale projects. Trusting cooperation with strong partners such as Interroll plays a central role in this, as they provide us with competent support in achieving our business objectives."

Modular platform solutions for flow storage
The technological basis of the solution for efficient interim storage and order picking was formed by Interroll's conveyor platform solutions for flow storage applications for pallets and parcels, for high-performance sorting with a cross-belt sorter and a large number of drum motors, belt curves and conveyor rollers. A flow storage system was implemented as an interim storage facility, comprising over 6,600 dynamic storage locations for parcels and over 2,100 dynamic storage locations for pallets as well as 80 returns for empty pallets. The goods are stored and picked on four levels, in which a total of twenty picking tunnels with pick-to-belt conveyor technology have been installed. Conveyor belts, in which 127 drum motors and 31 belt curves are integrated, transport the parcels of different sizes to dispatch via a high-performance sorter, which can handle a throughput of 3,000 units per hour. It has a 110-meter-long conveyor belt as a visible surface and 19 end points, each 12.5 meters long. In addition, many incline conveyors were equipped with the Magnetic Speed Controller MSC 50.

Jörg Mandelatz, Managing Director of Interroll Fördertechnik GmbH, says: "As an enabler for efficient material flow, our aim is to offer our customers decisive added business value. The unique interaction of our products and services - from dynamic storage and sorting to intelligent drive technology - not only meets the highest quality standards, but also takes future growth opportunities into account thanks to the scalability of the modular platforms."

Modern working environment
Before the new solution went into operation, it was extensively tested. Wenko employees in Baal were actively introduced to the new working environment and the new tasks. In addition, the system produces only low noise emissions - an aspect of the project that Philip Köllner emphasizes emphatically: "We know that our employees are a guarantee for our success. That's why we provide the right conditions so that they feel comfortable with us and can find an attractive working environment."