The new facility was integrated into the existing logistics system during ongoing operations. The e-commerce shipping center in Gernsheim currently stores up to 300,000 items on an area of around 75,000 square meters, which are ordered via the online stores and shipped in around 60,000 parcels every day. This large variety of products results in a fundamental challenge for logistics processing: the widely varying product dimensions - ranging from baby teats to beds - require a flexible warehousing system. In addition, seasonal peaks need to be managed.

"To ensure that logistics can keep pace with our company's growth in the future, we needed a concept that is scalable, especially in terms of shipping volumes," explains Tim Kellermann, Managing Director of myToys Logistik GmbH. "We entrusted this task to the Pierau Planung team of experts led by project managers Andreas Spitzki and Dirk Wohlgemuth - true to the motto 'never change a winning team'." The Hamburg-based company has been supporting the Mytoys Group since the move to Gernsheim in 2013.

An automatic shuttle system with seven aisles and 18 levels was added to the existing system to increase the storage and handling capacity for the continuously growing product range. "Like the existing system, the new system was integrated during ongoing operations," explains Andreas Spitzki. "This was only possible because we had already planned both the space required for the expansion and the connections to other systems in the original logistics concept."

Space-saving shuttle storage solution increases capacities
Together with the myToys team, the logistics experts introduced a shuttle solution with high reliability and lower energy requirements per storage cycle. The solution could also be integrated into the inventory logistics to save space. The special feature: "In order to achieve the largest possible number of storage locations and provide the required operational performance, we advised our customer to use a shuttle system from which the bins are removed from the side," says Dirk Wohlgemuth. "The more conventional removal solution by placing the pre-zone on the short side of the shuttle warehouse would have been less space-saving and would have meant a reduction in storage locations."

The new shuttle solution offers around 100,000 additional storage locations and, with the provision of up to 3,000 bins per hour and 500 cartons for replenishment, enables fast, flexible goods-to-man picking. The containers are provided from the warehouse to the picking stations using conveyor technology. The employees put the picked goods directly onto picking trolleys.
Once again, future expansion options have already been taken into account in the course of the current project: There is enough space available so that the new shuttle system can be easily mirrored if required.