Always looking for future-proof solutions and innovations and driven by industry growth, Sievi saw the need to invest in warehouse automation. Sievi's main goal is to enable fast and seamless delivery of the 200 SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) to customers and to meet future development plans to expand production and storage capacities. To meet these requirements, SSI Schaefer will sustainably expand Sievi's existing system to double the total output per hour and create over 60% more storage locations.

The existing Sievi system was implemented by SSI Schaefer back in 2009. The joint project, the scalability of the existing solution and the flexible WAMAS software from SSI Schaefer laid the foundation for this ongoing partnership.

"Sievi is a market leader in this industry and one of the most recognized brands in Finland. It is great to continue working with a company that has strong values and, like us, is a family-run business. We look forward to being part of this future expansion of Sievi," says Michael Hillström, General Manager at SSI Schaefer in Finland and Sweden.

Sustainable expansion for maximum performance and storage capacity

To meet the performance requirements, SSI Schaefer is implementing a solution for more efficient sequencing between the automated small parts warehouse and the packing stations. The six existing packing lines will be dismantled and six new packing lines will be integrated elsewhere. In addition, a total of six sequence towers will be installed in front of the packing stations, providing numerous buffer storage locations connected by lifters. Containers and cartons that are retrieved from the automated small parts warehouse can thus be efficiently buffered and transported to the packing stations in the correct sequence.

Potential storage bottlenecks are to be avoided by a new high-bay warehouse with four SSI Exyz storage and retrieval machines. The SSI Exyz storage and retrieval machines will handle pallets with raw materials as well as semi-finished products. The automated small parts warehouse, where shoe boxes are stored, will also be extended by three aisles. The solution enables Sievi to store raw materials and finished products in a single warehouse at just one production site.

After goods receipt, raw materials and semi-finished products are temporarily stored in the new high-bay warehouse and transported to the production area as required. The finished products are then stored in the automated small parts warehouse. Shoe boxes are transported to the sequence towers, where they are buffered and then transported to the packing stations in the correct order using lifters and conveyor technology. At these stations, the shoe boxes are packed according to order. After labeling, they are transported to the outgoing goods area and finally delivered to the retailers. The order size ranges from one to 2,000 cartons.

The solution is rounded off by the WAMAS logistics software from SSI Schaefer and conveyor technology. The project is scheduled to go live in December 2022