© CIM

In recent years in particular, the global increase in investment activity in the construction industry has led to a significant increase in capacity requirements. Against this backdrop, Doka pushed ahead with the professionalization of its warehouse management at the Apolda Distribution Center (DC) in 2021. The company opted for warehouse management software for the Europe-wide logistics center that would meet its high standards: ProlagWorld from the renowned software house CIM.
"At 110,000 square meters, the Apolda site is the DC with the largest warehouse area in the Doka Group," explains Michael Troll, Managing Director of the Distribution Center. According to him, the decision in favor of CIM resulted from the successful cooperation with Doka at other locations. "For example, our headquarters in Amstetten," adds Michael Troll.

With the wide range of services for building construction and civil engineering that Doka offers, it is not surprising that the company's storage and logistics solutions have special requirements. "Large parts of the Doka warehouse at the Apolda site are in the open air," explains CIM project manager Thomas Rolli. If you look at the open storage area, you will see piles of formwork of various sizes and weights, some of which pose a challenge to the logistics processes. In order to improve occupational safety and ergonomics for the employees, covered picking stations were set up in a hall. The software also structures the picking stations according to the weight of the parts to be picked. Particularly heavy warehouse goods are picked at two specially equipped stations with heavy-duty cranes. ProlagWorld supplies the storage and retrieval areas via carousel picking, but with a special feature.

"Normally, carousel picking is used for production," explains Thomas Rolli. "In the Doka Apolda warehouse, however, this does not exist, strictly speaking." This is because one of the areas introduced in the distribution center, which is now mapped in ProlagWorld, is the refurbishment of used parts. "Basically, this is not a production process, but a type of complaint," emphasizes Rolli. Nevertheless, the complaints module was not implemented, but the refurbishment is mapped in the production module. "ProlagWorld Production handles the refurbished parts in the same way as the transformation of goods from raw materials to goods," explains the CIM project manager. "With the difference that a raw material - namely the workpiece to be refurbished - completely becomes the new finished part." The employee then only decides at the refurbishment station which additional parts he needs to repair the part. The missing raw materials can then be supplied via the parts list. This solution is particularly attractive because the repaired and cleaned parts can be made available directly for other construction sites thanks to the connection to the WMS. "Of course, the software differentiates between refurbished goods and new goods," adds Rolli.