With WMS and MES to the Smart Factory
There was a reason why the event took place at Vacom: Vacom represents a milestone project for the intralogistics expert. viastore is helping the manufacturer of vacuum components to transform its production into a "smart factory" with the introduction of its viadat warehouse management system (WMS) and the standard interface to the Hydra manufacturing execution system (MES) from MPDV Mikrolab GmbH. "By effectively integrating all areas and their material flows through WMS and MES, we are overcoming the traditional boundaries between logistics and production," explains Dr. Harald Göbel, COO of viastore Software.

However, it is not only with Vacom that viastore demonstrates its expertise. "Whether fully automated, semi-automated or manual warehouses - our order books are filled with a wide range of projects," summarizes Göbel. In the semi-automated warehouse of a food processor, viadat was introduced to control autonomous forklifts, among other things. "At another company, we replaced a third-party WMS that was unable to keep pace with the company's growth with viadat 9, thereby creating lean processes along the entire value chain," explains Göbel. He also gave an insight into viadat's current development projects. One of the new products is viadat Vision. This is a desktop or mobile app that visualizes the material flows of an automated storage system, displays events via push messages and provides recommendations for action. This new product, which will be compatible with the automated storage systems of all manufacturers, is intuitive to use. The app will be presented to the public for the first time at the viastore Software Day on January 22, 2020 in Stuttgart. The event is aimed at operations, logistics and IT managers as well as other decision-makers in industry and retail.

Technology-independent partner
viastore Systems further increased its focus on the manufacturing industry in 2019 and implemented numerous Industry 4.0-related projects. "We have implemented many projects in the industrial sector, particularly in Germany," explains COO Detlef Ganz. With technology-independent planning, reliable implementation and intensive support during operation, the company enables further growth for its customers. The strategic partnership with prismat, which has been in place since 2017, is also continuing to bear fruit. Wiska Hoppmann GmbH's automated warehouse system comes from viastore, while prismat's SAP EWM takes over the management of warehouse and production processes as well as the control of material flow technology. viastore plans its new systems with the help of virtual and augmented reality. In this way, for example, material flows can be checked, workflows optimized and weak points identified at an early stage, which increases quality and efficiency in the implementation of systems, reduces risks and enables a particularly needs-based design.

viastore was able to support the customer in modernizing the production warehouse of power tool manufacturer Metabo. "Even though this is a comparatively small warehouse, it would have a major impact if the technology didn't run smoothly," explains Ganz. If it were to fail, the production lines would come to a standstill after four hours. The retrofit was implemented within three weeks and ensures the long-term availability of the production warehouse. This gives viastore customers a competitive edge with both its system solutions and its software.