More cartons per cubic meter for shipping

Weisser was founded in 1922 and in the 1980s the company relocated to the industrial area of Neresheim. Today, a state-of-the-art production facility with manufacturing, toolmaking and automation technology is located there. The dispatch warehouse only recently moved there. Weisser also took the opportunity to convert the old manual man-to-goods concept to a modern automated warehouse system.

"Our approximately 1,000 customers have very high expectations when it comes to the reliability and punctuality of deliveries," emphasizes Markus Trinkl, Head of Service Sales at Weisser Spulenkörper. "Many of them have fixed delivery dates. This means that the goods must be ready for dispatch or collection on a specific day of the week." The automation of intralogistics processes should further increase the quality of deliveries. "We took a close look at the various automation concepts for warehouses and opted for shuttle technology," reports Managing Director Manfred Starnecker. viastore was commissioned to implement the warehouse: the international provider of turnkey intralogistics systems and software offers automated storage systems based on storage and retrieval machines as well as the viaflex shuttle system. "We compared various shuttle providers," reports Manfred Starnecker.

Lifts lift the shuttles with their containers or cartons from storage into the warehouse and onto the appropriate shelf level.

"viastore's technology proved to be the most suitable system for us." With shuttle technology, the goods are transported to the storage compartment or to the transfer point for picking via individually driven, energy-autonomous trolleys. The shuttles run on rails attached to each row of shelves and are lifted to the appropriate shelf level via lifts. The viaflex³ shuttles from viastore can also change aisles independently - without transfer devices or similar equipment. This is because they have wheels that can swivel up to 90 degrees and can therefore move to the next aisle via points and gaps in the racking, for example. This also enables a storage solution in which the shelving adapts to spatial conditions such as corners or columns. This means that every square and cubic meter can be used in the best possible way. The high storage density was particularly important for Weisser, as Manfred Starnecker explains: "The new warehouse was to be docked as close as possible to the existing production area. However, there was only a limited amount of space available there. With the shuttle system, we can store more cartons in the available space than with other types of warehouse."

Cartons and plastic containers in mixed operation

Weisser packs the items in various cartons with maximum dimensions of 600 × 400 × 460 millimetres and 400 × 300 × 460 millimetres respectively. "In addition to customer-specific products, we now offer a wide range of catalogs with around 4,500 different items," explains Manfred Starnecker. The spectrum ranges from small components weighing 0.01 grams to items weighing 450 grams. "We plan the packaging units in advance so that we only send full boxes if possible," explains Markus Trinkl.

The viaflex shuttles also proved to be very flexible for this: they pick up the cartons by driving underneath them, so their dimensions - within certain parameters - are irrelevant. viaflex also transports plastic containers: "In addition to cartons, we also transport 600 × 400 millimetre boxes in the warehouse," explains Markus Trinkl. "Some of these are provided by customers."

Three-storey facility

The successful project team (from left): Sales Manager Markus Trinkl, Managing Director Manfred Starnecker, IT Manager Rainer Gschwendtner and Saskia Sing, Purchasing (all Weisser Spulenkörper) and Project Manager Ludger Schmitz (viastore).

Weisser's new dispatch warehouse extends over three storeys: The first floor houses the storage area and six picking stations, which are connected via a conveyor loop. The cartons and containers are transferred from the conveyor system to the shuttle vehicles, which then transport them via three lifts to the two upper floors with the shelves.

"The shelving system was divided into two separate floors for fire safety reasons. This meant that it was not necessary to install a sprinkler system," explains Ludger Schmitz, the viastore project manager responsible. The first and second floors each have a 55-meter-long and 15-meter-wide built-in shelving unit with eleven levels. The racks offer space for 36,960 cartons when stored single-deep - smaller cartons are stored double-deep.

Standard software for warehouse management

viastore was not only the general contractor for the warehouse and conveyor technology, but also implemented the management and control software for the warehouse: "The fact that viastore offers the right warehouse management software in addition to the hardware was another reason for us to choose the company," explains Starnecker. With viadat, viastore offers standard software for managing and controlling conventional and automated warehouses. The warehouse software is suitable for small warehouses with a low turnover as well as for distribution centers with several thousand order lines per day. "We have mapped the warehouse functions at Weisser using the standard viadat functions," explains Ludger Schmitz. Manfred Starnecker adds: "We have found that one or two adaptations to our processes are necessary. viadat offers many configuration options here, so that these adaptations could be covered by the standard."

Dr. Matthias Schweizer

Contact:

Weisser Spulenkörper GmbH & Co KG 73450 Neresheim Tel.: 0 73 26/ 820 E-Mail:

viastore Systems GmbH 70469 Stuttgart Tel.: 07 11/98 18-0 E-Mail: [email protected] www.viastoresystems.de