In the existing facility, SSI Schaefer set up an innovative, highly dynamic and sustainable storage and picking system in a limited space, which enables a significant expansion of the picking capacity in the bottleneck area of the publisher's delivery.

Whether children's and young adult books, novels, biographies, art books or specialist literature - the demand for books is and remains high. This is also reflected in VVA's business growth in recent years. The publisher's delivery system at the Gütersloh site had reached its performance and capacity limits and the decision was therefore made to modernize and expand the existing system together with SSI Schaefer. As a global solution provider of modular storage and logistics systems, SSI Schaefer was already responsible for the automation project at the Gütersloh site in 2006 as a reliable partner. For the upcoming expansion, the intralogistics specialist with the patented 3D-Matrix Solution was the only company able to implement an innovative and high-performance solution with the best possible use of space - a storage and picking system on just 900 m² for a throughput of around 16 million books per year. The integrated goods-to-person picking workstations are subject to the highest ergonomic standards. In addition, the system can also be flexibly adapted and expanded to meet changing market requirements in the future.

The coronavirus pandemic brought new market requirements in 2020. With temporary lockdowns and the associated restrictions on leisure time, many people rediscovered or intensified reading and reading aloud. At VVA, in addition to the special coronavirus situation, numerous top titles in the Christmas business led to the largest order volumes since the company was founded in 1959 - and even pushed the newly created capacities to their limits. Nevertheless, VVA was able to maintain a high level of delivery reliability. If the trend continues, VVA will be able to expand again flexibly thanks to SSI Schaefer's forward-looking solution.

As a partner and service provider, Arvato SCS supplies small and large bookstores around the world from its three locations in Gütersloh, Verl and Gilching with the Vereinigte Verlagsauslieferung VVA for more than 200 publishers. The Bertelsmann subsidiary's central logistics center in Gütersloh alone stores around 70,000 different items - not only books, CDs and DVDs, but also magazines, calendars, stationery and toys. In addition to traditional logistics services such as warehousing, order picking, transportation management and extensive value-added services, Arvato SCS develops and operates complex global supply chains, e-commerce and IT platforms, omnichannel solutions and digital distribution models for its customers.

Jointly equipped for further growth
The expansion of the existing logistics system is the follow-up project to an automation solution that SSI Schaefer already implemented for VVA in 2006. At that time, a four-aisle automated small parts warehouse with 24,000 bin storage locations, a shelving racking system with 14,000 storage locations and 24 SSI Carousel systems with around 26,000 bin storage locations for highly dynamic individual parts picking were built in Gütersloh. "The customized high-performance system with its ergonomic goods-to-person picking stations has proven itself over 14 years and has grown with the challenges and our business. However, due to the development of our business in recent years, we particularly needed an expansion in the area of picking B and C articles. Based on the long-standing partnership, SSI Schaefer was able to implement a future-proof and energy-efficient solution optimized in terms of space efficiency, capacity and performance - consisting of the automated shuttle warehouse for small parts and innovative workstation systems. Based on our more than 10 years of experience with the existing workstations, we have developed the ergonomic workstation systems together with SSI Schaefer, taking into account the latest technologies to continuously improve ergonomics. The new solution is scalable and can be flexibly adapted to future requirements," explains Harald Horstmann, Vice President Publisher at Arvato Supply Chain Solutions.

Sustainably expandable logistics solution
In terms of sustainability, existing intralogistics systems, processes and material flows were to be retained. "In addition to making optimum use of the existing premises, the expansion had to be planned in such a way that it could be carried out during ongoing operations. Our business could not be affected by the work at any time," says Harald Horstmann, describing one of the main challenges of the project.

Overall, the project was completed in three steps: in order to implement the planned expansions, the order start in the old system first had to be relocated and further automated. In a second step, the fully automated high-bay warehouse was then directly connected to the existing and future storage and picking systems via conveyor technology. Finally, the third and most important project step was the construction of the shuttle warehouse including the connected workstations. "We mainly carried out the physical integration and tests in conjunction with the new system at weekends, as well as the construction, conversion and expansion of the conveyor system," recalls Martin Nagler, project manager at SSI Schaefer.

The automated high-bay warehouse with a total of 60,000 storage locations mainly stores single-item book pallets. It serves as a replenishment warehouse for the automated small parts warehouse (AKL) and the order picking systems. As part of the expansion project, SSI Schaefer retrofitted the system and converted the eight depalletizing workstations to the latest ergonomic standards. Here, the books are repacked into article-clean storage containers and transported via the conveyor system to the miniload, the connected SSI Carousel systems and the new shuttle warehouse.

The picking warehouses are connected to the central order start. When the IT system releases an order, the designated order container or carton is automatically removed from the buffer lanes and transported to the predetermined picking zone. In warehouse management, Arvato SCS distinguishes between A and D articles on the process side. In the multi-order picking process, employees manually remove D articles from shelving racks and place them in a picking trolley according to order. Orders containing B or C articles are picked according to the goods-to-person principle. The Advanced Pick Station two-level work stations are located centrally between the twelve SSI Carousel systems opposite each other. Several orders are processed simultaneously at these work stations. A-items, for example current titles from the bestseller lists, are mainly picked from flow channels at optimized Pick by Light work stations. The channels are replenished directly from a miniload aisle by the storage and retrieval machine.

In the new automated SSI Flexi Shuttle warehouse, the complete picking of an order is possible at one workstation (one-stop picking solution), as each workstation has access to the entire range of articles. "We wanted to continue using the existing system and not invest in a completely new solution. The existing space was to be used as efficiently as possible. We placed particular emphasis on the performance of the system, but also on the ergonomics of the workstations," explains Harald Horstmann. With a view to future viability, the new system also needed to be flexibly scalable in order to be able to handle volatile order fluctuations and future developments efficiently. Provision has therefore already been made in the shuttle warehouse for a possible system expansion to up to eight aisles.

Flexibility and performance in a new dimension
SSI Schaefer developed a modular concept for a highly dynamic system solution for Arvato SCS. "The storage cube for the new shuttle warehouse is located in a 24 m high extension to the high-bay warehouse and is designed according to SSI Schaefer's patented 3D Matrix Solution. This provides Arvato SCS with a future-proof solution for automated storage, buffering and integrated sequencing of order processing. By decoupling the individual processes on the horizontal and vertical axes, bottlenecks, for example during storage and retrieval, are avoided," explains Martin Nagler from SSI Schaefer. Today, 84 integrated SSI Flexi single-level shuttles ensure efficient storage and retrieval processes. 20 integrated lifts enable fast material flows on the vertical system level. The system expands Arvato SCS's capacity in the area of automatically available ad hoc article containers to a total of over 60,000 spaces and increases the number of goods-to-person picking stations by 60 percent.

The innovative shuttle technology with supercapacitors as energy storage units offers maximum performance with maximum energy efficiency. To ensure the highest possible picking performance, each workstation is connected to corresponding lifts via conveyor technology, which are operated by the shuttle vehicles. Each workstation therefore has access to the entire range of items in the 3D-Matrix Solution. Up to four orders per station can be picked in parallel directly into shipping cartons according to a one-stop pick solution. If an order can already be completed in this zone, it is transported directly to the dispatch completion area. Otherwise, the order is sent to the other picking areas (miniload or SSI Carousel System), which are connected to the conveyor system, for completion. Once picking is complete, a weight check is carried out before the order is completed in the dispatch completion area. There, the employee prints the order documents, fills any empty spaces in the carton with packing material and affixes the shipping label to the carton, which is then transported on the conveyor line towards goods issue. This enables short order throughput times.

"This solution guarantees us maximum flexibility and performance. This is exactly where SSI Schaefer made the difference and offered the best ratio of performance to space. We were able to fully achieve our goals of increasing productivity and throughput with the innovative and, above all, space-saving storage solution," summarizes Harald Horstmann with satisfaction.

Ergonomics and social responsibility
In addition to the performance and flexibility of the system, the focus was also on the ergonomics of the workstations. Arvato SCS worked with its employees, SSI Schäfer, TU Darmstadt and the startup cellumation to develop an appropriate concept. The solution is special workstations where the source and target containers are served on one level and can be handled ergonomically by the order pickers. The new workstations in the shuttle warehouse are multifunctional and, in addition to compiling orders, also enable returns to be sorted. To further improve ergonomics and optimize the working environment, the partners also relied on individually adjustable working heights, an ergonomic arrangement of the operating elements, optimal presentation of information and touch-friendly materials. "As part of our social responsibility, we wanted to create the best possible ergonomics and the most pleasant working environment possible. After all, what use is the most efficient system if employees tire quickly or even become unhealthy? We have also broken new ground with the lighting, for example the light color is adapted to the rhythm of the day," emphasizes Harald Horstmann. "The central elements of innovation and sustainability are reflected in the jointly developed solution: flexible, powerful and sustainable, space and energy efficient as well as ergonomic - all these goals have been successfully combined," summarizes Harald Horstmann.