The iDM Group is Austria's largest manufacturer of heating heat pumps. Over 400 employees develop, produce and sell more than 10,000 heat pumps for heating, cooling and hot water every year. iDM has made a name for itself with its development expertise and numerous innovations. The intelligent iDM energy manager Navigator 2.0 controls the heat pump, uses weather forecasts to adjust heating requirements and solar power yields, learns the heating and cooling behavior of individual rooms and optimizes running times by calling up electricity prices on an hourly basis. In this way, iDM makes a significant contribution to the energy transition with efficient and clean heat for generations.

For further expansion, a new logistics center was built at the headquarters in Matrei, East Tyrol. In the first stage of construction, an innovative AutoStore small parts warehouse was built. This was followed in the second stage by the new high-bay pallet warehouse, the connecting conveyor technology and the central picking workstations, which are served from both warehouses. Hörmann Intralogistics was awarded the contract for the realization of the overall solution, including the HiLIS warehouse management system (WMS) for both automatic and manual warehouses.

Automated HBW for storage of semi-finished and finished goods

The new three-aisle high-bay warehouse (HBW), measuring 57.5 x 22.5 x 31 meters (L x W x H), is connected to the incoming goods area via pallet conveyor technology. A contour and weight check is carried out at the infeed point. The Euro pallets, industrial pallets or pallet cages on Euro pallets are then transported to the pallet circuit in the pre-zone of the high-bay warehouse. Each of the three high-bay aisles has a separate storage and retrieval point.

This is where the storage and retrieval machines (SRMs) pick up the pallets. The SRMs move to the designated storage location using camera-based compartment fine positioning. The double-deep telescopic forks of the stacker cranes can extend to the second z-position and thus set the pallets down double-deep with pinpoint accuracy. The three storage and retrieval machines work with the HiLIS Eco power management system, which saves up to 25 percent of energy consumption through intelligent energy balancing. The HBW has space for 9,324 pallets and achieves a storage capacity of 93 pallets per hour and a retrieval capacity of 85 pallets per hour.

Dynamic AutoStore small parts warehouse for 16,000 containers

In order to optimally adapt the AutoStore small parts warehouse to iDM's requirements, Hörmann first carried out a comprehensive system simulation with real data. This resulted in a configuration with a carousel port on the west side of the AutoStore warehouse, which is primarily intended for storage. Four conveyor ports are aligned with the central picking stations. The 16,000 containers measuring 649 x 449 x 330 millimetres (L x W x H) are stored and handled on seven levels. Each container has a net load capacity of approx. 30.5 kilograms.

The single-double grid with overall dimensions of 29.8 x 35.3 x 3.5 meters (L x W x H) is installed above the container stacks. On the grid, nine Red Line robots move in two directions thanks to their four pairs of wheels arranged at an angle, enabling them to reach any position in the grid. They communicate via WLAN with the AutoStore control system, which assigns the transport orders to the individual robots. If the order load is low or the battery capacity is too low, the robots drive themselves to one of the 10 charging stations at the edge of the grid. The AutoStore system is connected to the electrical department on the upper floor via two transfer cells, a lifter and container conveyor technology.

Central order picking

Four picking stations are connected directly to the high-bay warehouse via conveyor technology and distribution trolleys. One conveyor port of the AutoStore system is also responsible for supplying each picking station. This means that both palletized goods and goods from AutoStore can be picked at each workstation. Supply from the high-bay warehouse takes place via two distribution trolleys on one rail, which can work partially redundantly. In addition, a gripper lifting aid supports each picking station when removing heavy items.

At the heart of the system is the Hörmann WMS HiLIS. The customized application ensures that the requested goods from the asynchronous, different storage areas arrive synchronously at the picking station. HiLIS handles warehouse management, system control and system visualization for both the automatic and manual warehouses and communicates with the customer system via an interface.

This article appeared in issue 7/23