Opening the door to sustainability

The company is one of the world's leading manufacturers of electric motors, fans and blowers. The company has over 20,000 products in its range, most of which are manufactured on-demand. Nevertheless, a 33 m high-bay warehouse was built together with the 37,000 m² dispatch center, which serves as a goods buffer. The majority of the goods are collected in the staging areas of the 43 docking ramps in the dispatch center, while seven additional loading locks are located in the adjacent packaging warehouse, which is also new.

A section of the hall is partitioned off for air freight and functions like an airport check-in counter. Air freight consignments are checked here with large X-ray scanners and by authorized personnel and then stored securely so that the goods can be loaded directly onto the aircraft without further checks. The associated loading locks each have two sectional doors: a regular one in the insulated façade level and another in front of the head. This prevents unchecked goods from being smuggled into the high-security area.

Access to sustainability

For many years, the electric motor manufacturer has been very concerned about environmental protection and energy-saving measures, which is why the new building is to be constructed with sustainability in mind and certified by the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB). The DGNB does not issue blanket quality seals for individual building products, but evaluates buildings holistically, i.e. checks the sensible combination of its individual components. The doors and gates from the manufacturer Novoferm impressed with their robust and durable design. The ease of maintenance also had a positive effect. Steel is generally rated as sustainable, as it can usually be recycled by type. However, the RAL 5010 powder coating used on the NovoDock P1530i loading locks had to be proven to be free of lead and cadmium.

User-guided operation increases longevity

All of the 50 loading bays are controlled by a combination control system for the sectional doors and dock levellers. The Novoferm Traffic Advanced traffic light control system works with a sensitive wheel wedge. If this is at rest in its holder, it lights up green on the outside and red on the inside. However, if the wedge is in contact with the vehicle wheel, the traffic light changes color. The truck driver is signaled red on the outside so that he does not drive away unintentionally. The loading personnel inside, on the other hand, receive a green signal, which visually indicates that they are free to load. If this "electronic immobilizer" is not in its working position on the wagon wheel, the dock leveller cannot be operated. This forced use of the safety wheel chock effectively prevents the vehicle from rolling away in an uncontrolled manner or driving away completely.

Building more than ecologically

Sustainable building means implementing an optimal synthesis of ecological, economic and socio-cultural aspects. Sociocultural means a positive workplace design, accessibility of course, but also visual and thermal comfort. The latter is supported by the Novoferm sectional doors: All feature clear glass surfaces to create a visual reference to the outside. However, most of the fire doors also have vision panels, just as all internal, sensor-controlled high-speed doors have transparent film surfaces. The additional eight roller grilles fitted to selected loading bays are as simple as they are convincing in terms of their sustainable effect. They allow effective cross-ventilation of the shipping hall when the sectional doors are open, without unauthorized persons being able to enter the hall.

Intra says: Wise words

Happy are those who can contribute directly to the pursuit of sustainability with their products. What a sentence, and coming from me! I admit that, as a passionate shopper, I don't contribute to sustainability as directly as Novoferm has done here in the user story. But I vow to do better. If I go shopping again, it will be by bike and with an ecologically correct rucksack on my back. However, I still prefer to close the doors of fashion stores from the inside rather than the outside.

Sustainability as quality

Steffen Klingler, the auditor commissioned for the DGNB certification, attested to the enormous sustainability of such details, which is why the building has already been pre-certified with well over 80% of the achievable points in platinum. "You can't really achieve 100%. But receiving a platinum certificate is a remarkable quality award: it shows that the right decisions were made during the planning stage to harmonize ecology, economy and socioculture!" comments Felix Jansen, PR officer at the DGNB.

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