One-stop store: Three storage areas offer space
viastore was awarded the contract for the realization of the entire system. The specialist for networked and automated material flows in logistics and industrial production supplied both the storage systems and conveyor technology as well as the latest version of its viadat warehouse management system for controlling all internal logistics and material flow processes. The heart of the system is a 95-meter-long, 15-meter-wide and 12-meter-high container warehouse. "We use the viaflex2 shuttle system here," explains Irmler. "It offers us exactly the scalability we want to achieve with regard to new customers. If we need more capacity, we can use additional vehicles in the system." Symbiolog initially started with 50 vehicles and a capacity of around 17,000 containers, which can easily be expanded to 28,400 units. A fully automated pallet high-bay warehouse is directly adjacent to the container warehouse. The 94 meter long, 18 meter wide and 26 meter high building is a silo construction. It has 9,100 storage spaces on four aisles. This is where Symbiolog stores replenishment for the container warehouse as well as items that are too large or too heavy for the container warehouse. The third area is a cantilever warehouse, which offers 4,000 square meters and seven aisles of space for the rails, brackets and profiles required for the building technology, which can be up to ten meters long. It is served by reach trucks. All three storage zones are positioned in such a way that they can be easily extended. They are connected by an area where all incoming and outgoing goods processes take place.

Warehouse management system: Intuitive to use,easy to learn
An important reason for Irmler to commission viastore was the software: "When choosing the warehouse management system, we focused on an intuitive and easy-to-learn user interface," emphasizes Irmler. "This allows me to integrate additional employees very quickly if necessary - without a great deal of effort for training. The viadat 9 warehouse management software is exactly what I was looking for in an ergonomic and easy-to-use workstation software." The current version has a self-explanatory user interface that allows order pickers to work flexibly at different locations in the distribution center. Logistics managers can compile the information and key figures they currently or permanently require in an individual dashboard and plan their tasks and resources. All relevant data is clearly displayed and available at all times - whether on a desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone. Functions and information that are not required are hidden and can be quickly switched on again as required.

More performance through play
Anyone who can operate a smartphone can also operate viadat 9, says Symbiolog's Managing Director. It is fun and is basically reminiscent of computer games. Irmler can imagine expanding and utilizing this effect further. "Employees want to compete with other teams. viadat 9 makes it very easy to integrate widgets, for example a speedometer display, into the dashboard, which shows employees where they stand and what the others are doing." Irmler's team has already installed something like this at the packing stations: Various widgets available in the extensive library have been compiled into a dashboard and show employees the workload they have completed on the process area. Irmler has also set up his own individual dashboard: "I only have the two or three most important key figures displayed - a really good feature of viadat, in my opinion."
Symbiolog uses other viadat 9 functions for value-added services. These include, for example, customer-specific packaging instructions, set creation and private labeling functions. The multi-client capability of the warehouse management system and the ability to communicate with the various ERP systems of the clients are also important for Symbiolog as a logistics service provider. This means that nothing stands in the way of acquiring further customers from the building technology sector.