Prodrive Technologies produces a wide range of high-tech solutions, including for the medical, renewable energy, semiconductor and automotive sectors. For the production and assembly of its products, the company has subsidiaries in the United States, China and the Netherlands, among others, with the largest production facility located in Son. This is also the location of the company's headquarters and, since the beginning of 2022, a new distribution center (DC).

Significant growth as a challenge

This has an area of 20,000 square meters and was needed to cope with the massive growth of the company. Prodrive Technologies, which is in the top 10 of the Dutch manufacturing industry, is growing by around 25% annually. "To cope with this growth, we were using several external warehouses spread across multiple locations. With the realization of our new DC, we had the opportunity to improve logistical efficiency and take processes to the next level," says Mark Menting, Global Process Owner Logistics at Prodrive Technologies. The requirements were clear: the new logistics concept had to ensure high productivity and be able to flexibly handle the highly fluctuating logistics requirements. "We were also looking for a scalable solution that could grow with us," continues Menting. Prodrive Technologies found the right solution at Jungheinrich, which supplied a highly automated system with 15 Arculee S autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and eight EKX 516a automated narrow-aisle trucks as the centerpiece.

Affordable, scalable and flexible

Eight EKX 516a automatic narrow-aisle stackers (VNA) move a total of 15,000 pallets in the two high-bay warehouses. © Jungheinrich

In addition to the automated VNA stackers, Prodrive also looked at shuttles and automated cranes. "The shuttles were quickly rejected because we have far too many different items for them," says Menting. Automated cranes were also out of the question. A shelved warehouse with a height of around 12 m would require so many cranes that the investment would simply be too high. "These narrow-aisle forklifts are cost-effective, scalable and more flexible," says Menting. Initially, eight automated VNA forklifts were delivered. If the business continues to grow, this number could be increased to 16.

Novel combination with AMRs

A unique feature is the combination with the AMRs, which handle transportation between the warehouse and picking station. The autonomous robots offer a flexible solution that can be easily adapted to changing requirements. "The AMRs are also compact, fast and relatively inexpensive," says Menting. "And they guarantee a high level of continuity. If we had opted for conveyor belts, we would have been more prone to errors. If one section failed, the whole system would come to a standstill. That's not the case with these AMRs."

Jungheinrich also supplied the racking and the software required for communication between the systems and with the upstream warehouse management system. The warehouse control system receives orders from the WMS. These are "translated" into comprehensible orders for the stacker cranes and VNAs via the Jungheinrich Logistic Interface.

AMR use in busy environments

The AMRs ensure smooth transportation to and from the warehouses and picking stations. © Jungheinrich

Incoming pallets are placed on a conveyor belt where, among other things, the contours and quality of the pallets are checked. An AMR then picks up the pallet and transports it to the high-bay warehouse. There, the goods are set down by the narrow-aisle stacker at the location assigned by the WMS. Each aisle has four set-down locations, two for incoming and two for outgoing pallets. The outgoing pallets are transported by the AMRs to one of six picking stations, where the orders are picked and prepared for further processing or dispatch. Each picking station has six pick-up/drop-off stations for this purpose. Thanks to various safety sensors, the AMRs can easily be used in environments where other forklifts and people are also working. To maximize productivity, Prodrive has opted to keep interaction between employees and the robots to a minimum. For the same reason, the automated high-bay warehouse is completely off-limits to employees.

The system offers a theoretical picking capacity of 80 pallets per hour. The theoretical capacity for the high-bay compartments is also 80 pallets per hour; 30 incoming pallets and 50 returning pallets from the picking stations.

The new concept has now been in operation for over a year. For Menting, the advantages are obvious: "This solution offers productivity, flexibility and scalability. We are operational almost around the clock. We are also seeing a significant improvement in quality; damage to items and equipment has decreased. We can easily reduce repair costs by ten percent every year. We also have a better insight and overview, and no more items go missing."