Link Magazine 19 - SCLG

Case Study 61in the extreme. The supply of thecontrols required and thenetworking of the separate areasto warehouse and ordermanagement was taken on byUnitechnik. Both the mechanicalsystems suppliers and thecontrols systems that wereimplemented had to takeconstant account of a frictionfreeintegration in the futureconstruction phases.Automatic handling ofthousands of articlesThe optimal handling of thecomprehensive soft-carrierrange starts at goods arrivals.After arrivals checking andcounting procedures andrecording in the enterpriseresource planning system, thesmall volume articles are repackedinto storage totes. Largevolume articles are placed onpallets. Finally both goods typesare transported via the relevantconveyor lines to theappropriate storage areas. Thegoods can be clearly traced fromcontrol by means of the barcodeson the totes and pallets.The warehouse consists of twoareas. The pallet warehousecomprises 2700 storage positionsin a channel storage rack.Efficient handling is assured byTGW stacker cranes each of 7.5m. height in two 80 m longaisles. Each stacker crane isequipped with a “Muli” satellitevehicle as a load handling devicepermitting a lengthways storageof the pallets in the channelstorage racks. A crosswaystransfer car takes on thedistribution of the pallets in theaisles at the warehouse approachzone.The tote storage positions areplaced at both sides of the palletwarehouse area and comprises12 aisles totalling 47,000 storagepositions. The majority of thearticle range is stored here. Thegrey 600 x 400 x 400 mm (W x Dx H) stock totes contain notblocks, ballpoint pens, inkcartridges, glue, computertechnical products and a greatdeal more; they are aligned indouble depths in the rackpockets. Each rack aisle is servedby a 7.5 m high single maststacker crane of the Mustangtype. The double depth Combitelescopeload handling devicesinstalled on the Mustangs assurean extremely efficient storageand retrieval of the stock totesplus rapid handing over to theconveyor systems. A longdrawn-out conveyor systemloop in the approach zonesupplies the separate aisles andlinks the warehouse with thegoods entry and the pickingplaces.24-hour delivery servicesoft-carrier has committed itselfto the 24–hour deliveryprinciple. The requirements forthis are on the one handautomated processing of theorder arrivals with a powerfulpicking system performance onthe other. This makes it possibleto process online orders -comprising virtually all theincoming orders at soft-carrier –very much faster.TGW has taken special accountof short routes as the soft-carrierdefined objectives for allworkstations and of ergonomicconsiderations as a way ofensuring that problems do notarise in the picking area. Staffreceive precise information via acomputer screen at the pickingarea on how many articles theycan remove from the grey stocktotes to place in the colouredtarget totes for packing. Supplyof all 13 picking positions isautomatic. Each stock tote goesto the picking position exactlywhen its contents are requiredfor a customer order. By thismeans six pickers can deal witharound 900 picks an hour.The coloured target totes for thepacking area are then moved onto packaging where the entirecustomer order is checked onceagain and placed in a dispatchcarton. The dispatch label thathas already been generatedduring the course of the pickingprocedure accompanies thetarget tote for the packing area tothe workstation there and isavailable for immediate use.After the label has been fixed tothe carton it continues on todispatch. Here the packages aresecured once again by doublehooping before continuing onthe dispatch route to thecustomer. The courier andexpress service containers thatare to be fitted with the currentdispatch loads are then waitingat the goods issue gates.Express deliveries are the onlyexceptions to the dispatchloading rules. These are collectedagain between packaging anddispatch on buffer lanes until theexpress trucks dock at the goodsissue gate or until a dispatchcontainer is added as a finaldispatch container. The collectedexpress packages are started upat the push of a button andloaded directly to the transporteror container to ensure that theycan be unloaded as prioritypackages for acceleratedtreatment from the transportvehicle by the haulagecontractor.Uninterrupted peak operationThe concept has proved itsvalue. The total of sevenconstruction phases has nowbeen completed and operation ofthe distribution centre has neverhad to be interrupted during anexpansion phase. “We have beenable to extend the availabledelivery times and thus betterour service by means of the newautomated warehouse systems,faster flow-throughs andoptimal process control”commented Thomas Veit who isconvinced of the success of hislogistic centre.