Known as a rectangular design as standard, the flexibility of Auto-Store also allows the creation of precisely tailored structures at the interface between provision and production. © AM automation

"AutoStore enables the seamless and cost-effective linking of warehousing and production," says AM Managing Director Schmale. His reasoning: "The compact and almost infinitely scalable design, the high degree of automation and the easy integration into existing IT and logistics structures make it comparatively easy to adapt AutoStore to the requirements of Assemble-To-Order or Make-To-Order." The potential applications are limited only by the dimensions of the storage boxes used in the system: with uniform internal dimensions of 403 x 603 mm and different heights of 202, 312 or 404 mm depending on the type, the so-called bins can hold both larger individual parts and prefabricated components, whereby the total weight per box may not exceed 30 kilograms. The total capacity of an individual system depends on the requirements of the respective user and ranges from a few hundred to several hundred thousand containers.

The limits of established logistics processes sometimes cause problems
One example of its use in production supply is the Austrian company CMS Electronics GmbH. Based in Klagenfurt am Wörthersee, CMS develops and supplies electronic assemblies for applications in energy technology or the automotive sector as well as PCBs for dialysis machines or radio transponders. Fully automated systems have long been used to assemble the modules, but the individual parts required for this have traditionally been picked by hand and transported to the production lines by tugger train. However, as customer interest in assemble-to-order solutions grew, the established logistics processes increasingly reached the limits of what was possible. Spread across several storage rooms on the company premises, the sometimes highly sensitive electronic components had to be picked and transported to the assembly lines in a very time-consuming process. The desire for customized mass production also meant that CMS was faced with a steadily increasing error rate.

Short distances, no loss of time
CMS used the move to a new location last year not only to expand its production capacities, but also to reorganize its production supply. In collaboration with AM-Automation, an AutoStore solution was created that optimally meets customer requirements: designed as the main warehouse for production supply, CMS stocks around 4,000 different items in 2,000 bins, which in turn are packed in 34,000 units. Goods removal and goods receipt were spatially separated so that both processes can be handled in parallel.

The required items are now provided in the immediate vicinity of the production lines. Time lost due to manual searching at different storage locations and the associated long distances are a thing of the past. Thanks to the compact design of AutoStore, available space is optimally utilized and the time between ordering and delivery has been significantly reduced. As a result, the bottleneck at the transition from staging to assembly, which had become increasingly narrow, has been permanently resolved.

Integration into existing systems
The project for CMS Electronics was implemented as part of a new construction project, but AutoStore can also be used to optimize production supply within existing logistics systems and adapt to changing customer requirements. "In principle, such a solution is suitable for all applications in which a large number of products have to be manufactured in a very large variety," says Johannes Traub, Sales Manager at AM-Automation. AM-Automation is currently designing corresponding systems for suppliers in the automotive sector, and at the Siemens plant in Bad Neustadt, a production supply warehouse based on AutoStore has been ensuring optimum material flow in the manufacture of servomotors for three years.

"One of the major advantages is that the system can be integrated into existing processes without major effort and only manageable changes are required on the customer side," says Johannes Traub. AutoStore can be part of the system or the focus of process optimization. "The potential extends to the possibility of partially or even completely replacing pre-picking and marketplace logistics with an AutoStore solution," says Traub. The further the individualization of products progresses, the greater the advantages: "AutoStore delivers the right components in the correct sequence to the specified assembly station, even in the right quantities if required." And if - as is the case at the Siemens plant in Bad Neustadt, for example - the required parts are manually removed from the full container directly at the assembly line, an optional integrated scale allows the weight removed to be checked for plausibility.

Prepared for Industry 4.0
Last but not least, Production Supply also fits seamlessly into current and future Industry 4.0 concepts: Digitalization and automation form the basis, and the system can be easily linked to existing ERP, WMS or WMS environments and all means of transport required for intralogistics via standard interfaces. The modular design ensures that the failure of a single component cannot paralyze the entire system, and the robots used for container handling have extensive programs for fault diagnosis and remote maintenance. From the point of view of AM Managing Director Jens Christian Schmale, AutoStore is the ideal solution for optimizing the production supply of small parts or prefabricated components with a proven availability of almost 100%. "The more individually series products are to be equipped with certain features, the greater the impact on the efficiency of the entire production logistics," says Schmale. "And by the way, in many cases an investment pays for itself even faster than would be possible with conventional logistics solutions."

About AM-Automation
AM-Automation GmbH, based in Offenau (Baden-Württemberg), is a general contractor that designs and implements AutoStore systems including adjacent conveyor and storage systems for logistics service providers and operators of their own warehouses. The offer ranges from integration into the respective IT landscape to training of operating personnel and ongoing services. As an in-house development, AM-Automation also offers robot-assisted solutions for the automated handling of KLTs and other complete containers in conjunction with AutoStore systems. In cooperation with university partners, the company is also working on automation technologies for intralogistics. AM-Automation is the official AutoStore distributor for Germany and the leading provider of AutoStore solutions in the DACH region and other European countries.