At the beginning of October 2020, we reported on the ground-breaking ceremony for the new high-bay warehouse 4 and the adjacent incoming goods area at the Nagold site. On August 30/31, 2021, Häfele reached another milestone together with io-consultants: The seven storage and retrieval machines for the new high-bay warehouse with a total of around 15,000 storage locations were brought in by Swisslog (GU-Logistik) within two days. Despite the current tense market situation, there have been no major delays in the project so far.

The planned high-bay warehouse expansion will make it possible to shorten walking distances and make workplaces more ergonomic. io-consultants has been supporting Häfele for over four years in the gradual conversion of its logistics processes and, as general planner, is responsible for the entire planning of the new high-bay warehouse and the associated plant expansion - from the initial concept and detailed planning through to awarding the contract and supervising the implementation and commissioning. All measures will be carried out during ongoing operations without affecting Häfele's ability to deliver, which in turn will be ensured by detailed migration planning.

For those interested, the insertion of the storage and retrieval machines could be seen from afar: Two crane systems were used - the larger one with a span of more than 40m. For each aisle, the chassis, each weighing approx. 4.2 tons, was first lowered into place via the roof openings in the silo structure that had been specially created for the installation. The pre-assembled masts, which were more than 22m long, were then also inserted from above. Including bolting and anchoring to the top track, it only took around 40 minutes to install the masts.

The next steps in the realization process are the installation of the conveyor technology and the planned electric floor conveyor. The special feature here is the integration into the existing building. To this end, internal departmental relocations have been planned and implemented in recent weeks and months to free up the necessary space. Against the background of the expansion during ongoing operations, the coming months represent one of the most exciting phases of the project. Commissioning of the entire plant is planned for the beginning of 2022.