psb microstore at SEW-EURODRIVE Bruchsal

DefShop | Next step in fashion

New order picking system for Blokker

cewe | Photo books and calendars for Christmas

SEW-Eurodrive – The success story continues

SEW-Eurodrive, manufacturer of drive technology for machines and plants, located in Bruchsal, Germany, has been one of psb’s regular customers for many years.  In the business year 2021, the company achieved a turnover of approximately 3.6 billion €, with about 20,200 employees worldwide.

Only a few years after it went live, the production site of SEW USOCOME in Brumath, France, will be expanded. Following a challenging tender process, psb intralogistics obtained the order to supply the intralogistics system for the plant expansion.

Motors and gearboxes are assembled in the Industry 4.0 plant built in 2015. A key competitive factor for SEW is the modular system from which customers can configure gear motors according to their individual requirements. The high variance of end products that can be achieved in this way is based on as few standardised individual components as possible and is finally realised by combining them during assembly.

This means that gear motors are not produced for stock, but are manufactured on a customer-specific and order-related basis in a one-piece flow. This form of production organisation requires a very high degree of flexibility from production and the associated intralogistics processes.

An important part of the expansion is the new intralogistics system designed by psb; an automated warehouse with additional picking stations will further increase the assembly capacity in the plant. Moreover, additional loading and unloading docks will be integrated.

In the first expansion phase, a Multi Access Warehouse with 122,000 storage locations for totes weighing up to 65 kg will be built to supply and clear the various production areas.

A downstream sequencing warehouse with 1,300 storage locations, also equipped with shuttle technology, supplies the individual plant areas with production material in a precise sequence and also serves as a buffer during peak load periods. For goods-in/goods-out, an automatic roller loading and unloading station for totes, with robot technology, was developed.

An automated pallet warehouse with 3,500 storage locations for pallets and pallet cages buffers palletised goods and makes them available at repacking stations or as whole pallets for the various plant areas. The automatic pallet conveyor system connects the various plant areas (goods-in, repacking, etc.) with the pallet warehouse.

Successful first roll-out of the new psb selektron WMS

We have now reached the next milestone in the renewal of our selektron WMS: the first-time implementation in customer projects.

The comprehensive revision of the selektron WMS includes on the one hand an update to the latest web technologies. In addition to platform independence, this means in particular easier use on mobile devices.

The second focus is on optimising the operating concept with modern, clear control screens and the objective of simplified operability. Clearly structured function masks, especially in combination with guided user dialogues, increase the process reliability, reduce the error rate and ensure a higher working speed.

We are very pleased about the entirely positive feedback from the first users among our customers regarding the course of the project and the UI-/UX design. This is a great acknowledgement for our development team.

Shuttle warehouse for Bergzeit

Bergzeit GmbH is a German retailer for outdoor and mountain sports equipment. The company, which is based near Munich, also organises adventure tours and courses. In addition to its own online store, where outdoor enthusiasts can select among more than 40,000 articles, the company operates two stationary stores.

At the Otterfing site, until now all goods had been stored manually in the existing warehouse and picked manually from shelving. The company’s growth in recent years, however, had pushed the capacity and performance to a limit that did not allow for further growth.

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As the available space is very limited, with only little room for a new building, our patented Multi Access Warehouse convinced Bergzeit to realise the expansion project with psb. With our concept, the space available in the new facility is utilised in the best possible way.

psb implemented a 7-aisle shuttle warehouse with 55,000 tote locations arranged laterally on a platform. High-performance conveyors connect further processing areas as goods-in and returns processing directly with the storage system. This intralogistics solution allows to have up to 1,000 parcels per hour ready for dispatch.

Besides the patented Multi Access Warehouse solution and the efficient utilisation of the building, the ecological sustainability of the plant was decisive for Bergzeit to realise this project with psb: all systems save energy and resources through the use of capacitors and energy recovery. Likewise, during the production of the systems at psb, approx. ¾ of the required energy is generated sustainably.

The new psb speedpick – Fast 1:1 order picking

The new speedpick by psb intralogistics is an economical and powerful 1:1 order picking solution that completes the psb picking systems portfolio for various performance and handling requirements.

A key advantage of this »goods to person« workstation with one source and one target is that there is no walking time during picking. It suits perfectly for operations in the retail sector as well as for e-commerce and omnichannel applications.

The tote stop positions of both, source and target totes, are at a 45° angle to the operator. The respective presentation of both totes on the roller conveyors plus the optional adaptability of the working height provide ergonomic relief for the operator.

The physical proximity of source and target as well as their fast supply and evacuation with totes allow picking rates of up to 600 picks per hour. The respective picking order with article and number of items to be picked is displayed on a screen. And finally, the powered swivel roller technology used in the workstation offers a high level of functional reliability.

psb establishes highly flexible logistics center for Rhenus

Rhenus Group, based near Dortmund/Germany, is one of the leading international logistics service providers with a global network. In 2019, the group recorded sales of 5.5 billion euro and employs over 33,000 people at more than 750 locations across the world.

Details of the intralogistics solution

In August 2020, Rhenus took over the dispatch logistics for a lingerie and swimwear specialist in the B2B sector (store supply). For this purpose, psb installed at the Eisenach site a conveyor and warehousing system as Multi Access Warehouse including the order picking, packing, goods-in and goods-out. The small parts warehouse has a capacity of approx. 175,000 storage locations for flat-packed goods, with a performance of 1,500 double cycles/hour in the first implementation stage. Modularity, flexibility and scalability in performance and capacity played a decisive role in planning this concept.

Special features of the warehousing system are the vario.sprinter flex shuttles as well as a racking concept with variable configuration of storage locations. With their width-adjustable gripper arms the shuttles can store load carrying units (LCU) of different lengths and widths. That way it is possible to handle different LCUs on the same warehouse level or even at the same storage location which additionally increases the flexibility and efficiency of the warehouse utilization. The type of LCU can be changed during the entire lifetime of the system without any particular effort.

In addition to order picking with rotapick units, the areas VAS (Value Added Services), packing goods-out and goods-in are flexibly integrated into the overall system. Returns processing is also located in the goods-in area.

Besides the initial utilization, the conveyor and warehousing system can be flexibly adapted to changing business processes. To ensure the sustainability of the plant, especially with regard to performance and capacity, the foundations for possible future modifications and expansions were laid right from the start. An extension concept is currently being planned, so that also the first customer’s B2C business might be handled from 2021. The warehouse will be used for other customers at that location as well in the future.

Shuttle warehouse for e-commerce

EMP is a German merchandising enterprise located in Lingen. Retailing mainly through its own online store www.emp.de, the company sells recording media, fan articles, apparel and accessories related to rock and metal bands, gaming, movies and TV series. EMP is part of the New York-based Warner Music Group, one of the three largest music labels in the world.

As the company has been growing rapidly for years, its central logistics has had to be constantly expanded. According to the statement of EMP, the combination of large storage capacity, efficient order picking and independence from SKU profiling were the reasons for establishing a large, high-performance shuttle warehouse.

The extraordinary features of our patented »Multi Access Warehouse« convinced EMP to realise the project with psb. A 10-aisle shuttle warehouse will be implemented, with more than 180,000 storage locations and a capacity of 3,600 double cycles per hour. Internal lifts, arranged in two rows, will connect in total twelve multi-order picking stations.The current plans already take into account that the shuttle warehouse can be doubled in the next three to four years.

It all began with »Schiene«

From its »Schiene« profile to entire assembly systems – the innovative ideas and high-quality assortment of Schluter-Systems KG have turned the company into the market leader for tile installation products. With over 1,800 employees across Europe, the U.S., and its seven subsidiaries, Schluter-Systems has been setting national and worldwide standards.

To be able to serve the increased demand for the ever-growing product range reliably and quickly in the future, the company decided to establish a new logistics center. At the site in Iserlohn (Dortmund), a new building was erected for the storage of rails and small parts.

All small parts will now be stored automatically in a miniload warehouse, which is operated by psb runloader AS/RS stacker cranes. The two-aisle warehouse with a height of more than 24 m and approx. 35,000 storage locations is directly supplied by the production. Retrieval and picking are carried out at workstations, which in two logistics levels serve different order structures. psb has not only provided the customer with a very compact and efficient logistics solution; this highly dynamic installation also meets the high requirements for the warehouse access. Despite the Corona crisis, the system was handed over for operation as scheduled. Schluter is now working with a highly-efficient warehousing system for small parts supply of the corporate companies – ready to face the future.

autopick – The psb picking robot

We have been experiencing a robotics hype in intralogistics in trade magazines and at trade fairs for several years. Most of them are classic six-axis articulated robots, which are looking for their way out of production and into logistics. The goal: fully automatic picking of small parts. The main driver for this development is the lack of manpower.

The great challenge in automatic order picking is not a technical component such as the robot or the gripper, but the design of an economical overall process. Since robots can only handle a part of the articles in a range of products, two parallel flows are generated in the material flow and thus create challenges in terms of material flow, inventories, synchronization and consolidation.

In 2020 we have met this challenge with the development of the autopick. The system, a fully automatic solution for the picking of single items, consists of the core components vision, robot, gripper as well as the IT system of the overall system.

The vision system detects grippable surfaces on the objects in the source totes and calculates gripping points and collision-free paths for the robot. This enables the robot to grip unknown products from bulk material with vacuum cups and to gently place them into the target tote, preferably in the area with the lowest filling level. A teach-in of the individual products is not necessary.

The multifunctional gripper can be individually designed for a wide variety of articles with a wide range of packaging units. Over time, the system learns which of the various grips works best for the respective article.

The achievable picking performance for a reliable system strongly depends on the properties of the gripping objects and ranges between 300 and 500 parts per hour. In summer, the autopick  test set-up was completed in the psb technology center, where we further develop the system and carry out gripping tests with customer articles.

Video Service with Augmented Reality

For many years already, psb intralogistics has provided its customers a reliable support with an own 24/7 service readiness: The operators of our systems can rely on receiving immediate support from one of our engineers in the event of a disturbance – whether day or night – so that the problem will be solved as quickly as possible.

»Live« at the side of our customers

Our service engineers use a tool that brings them even closer to our customers around the world. TeamViewer Assist AR. The app from a renowned provider enables the connection between the customer’s service crew and our service specialists via video call.

Once the secure connection has been established, a live video stream is created with the integrated camera, so that the psb service team can directly view the situation on site. By means of »Augmented Reality«, it is also possible to set markers in that livestream. Such markers remain at the assigned position, even if the end device is moved. This allows instructions to be visually highlighted and annotations to be inserted directly into the live video stream.

With this tool, the psb service team is able to eliminate disturbances even faster and more efficiently, or to provide support in the operation of the system: just as if the psb service engineers were »live« on site!

Easy, fast and secure

Our customers can use the TeamViewer Assist AR app with any standard mobile device with an Android or iOS operating system. The app can be loaded down easily and securely from the respective app store; it is not necessary to purchase any licenses nor to sign up for a service to use the app. Thus, this solution can be used right away, and our customers do not have to keep any additional expensive end devices available.

psb technology makes children’s eyes shine

myToys.de, an Otto Group company based in Berlin, operates 17 retail stores and an online store with more than 400,000 products for children and families. With a total turnover of over 670 million euro in the financial year 2018, myToys is one of the leading e-commerce companies in Germany.

In view of the continuous growth and the ever increasing product range, a new buffer and order picking warehouse for returns should be established in the central European distribution center in Gernsheim (greater Frankfurt area).

With its patented high-performance »Multi Access Warehouse« shuttle solution psb stood out against several other competitors and in May 2018 was awarded the contract to realize the new shuttle warehouse.

The warehouse is used to buffer incoming returns – mainly toys, clothing and shoes – and to reduce during order picking pick times and error rates by, for instance, an article image displayed on a screen. myToys describes picking of the correct article from the tote with the psb system solution »as easy as child’s play«: even temporary staff can be employed at the plant after only a very short training period, in order to be able to use the facility around the clock during the phase with the highest turnover before Christmas.

The system, comprising seven storage aisles and more than 100,000 storage locations was installed in a little over a year and could be handed over to the customer at the end of September 2019, just in time for the Christmas business.

At the 12 order picking stations, more than 2,000 of the ordered Christmas gift packages for the children are prepared for dispatch every hour, to bring a glow to children’s eyes at Christmas.

CB realizes a new Shuttle Warehouse together with psb intralogistics

Logistics service provider CB expands with a new bin warehouse from psb intralogistics in order to be in line with the developments in the market. The fully mechanised warehouse in the heart of The Netherlands will be 30 metres high, 30 metres wide and 100 metres long. Beginning of construction is autumn 2019.

Hans Willem Cortenraad, CEO of CB: ‘In order to facilitate our growth and to further expand our service levels, the expansion with a bin warehouse is essential. The warehouse fits in well with the developments in the market. We see a greater need for storage of smaller quantities. In addition, the number of different items in stock at CB is constantly increasing. In practice, this means that we have to replenish the stock for picking more often. On the other hand, the size of an order per customer decreases and the number of orders increases’.

The new warehouse works with level changing shuttles and has a capacity of 150,000 bins and a throughput of 2000 bin movements per hour, and will be expanded with another 150,000 bins in a later stage.

Cortenraad: ‘Transports for replenishment and for picking of orders are done fully automatically. We work according to the ‘goods-to-person’ principle – goods come to the people instead of the other way around. Moreover, the warehouse has been designed in a way that it is flexible and scalable in terms of throughput’.

‘The spirit in the project team on both sides is excellent, always thinking outside the box to accomplish the best possible solution for CB without only focusing on today’s needs but also looking ahead to the future‘, Florian Kunert, Sales Manager at psb, underlines the way of working together.

Cortenraad: ‘With the new building and the modern look of the new warehouse, we are underlining the future, fitting for the CB of today and tomorrow.’

About CB

CB has more than 145 years of experience as an integrated logistics service provider. CB offers solutions in the form of logistics services, digital distribution, e-commerce logistics, financial services and information and communication services.

HPC is SAP Gold Partner

For the customers of psb intralogistics who want to realize their intralogistics in a SAP application environment, we implement the software together with HPC AG, our strategic partner for SAP logistics solutions.

We are pleased that HPC has now been awarded SAP Gold Partner status as part of the SAP PartnerEdge program. This partner status shows the recognition of the high consulting and solution competence of HPC.

The new status rewards the long-standing successful cooperation with SAP Deutschland SE & Co. KG. HPC has been working closely with SAP for more than 30 years and offers its customers individually tailored SAP enterprise solutions in the sectors ERP, S/4 & Supply Chain.

“Revenue performance and number of customers are not the only reasons for the SAP Gold Partner status. HPC’s high-quality SAP solutions and its well-trained consultants are also key factors in the Partner program”, explains Christian Heck, Head of Business Development at HPC.

Manufacture of superlatives – behind the scenes of Rolex

In its new issue, the »Uhren-Magazin« [trade magazine for mechanical watches] has now dedicated a detailed report to the Swiss watch manufacturer. This article was illustrated with a photo that impressively shows a part of the psb systems technology used at Rolex. This makes us very proud.

Rolex manufactures at four locations in Switzerland. Most recently, the company sold 950,000 watches a year.

New shuttle generation – Further system optimization brings competitive advantages

Since 2008, when the first psb shuttle warehouse went into operation at BMW in Dingolfing (Bavaria), we have already delivered more than 900 vario.sprinter shuttles to our customers. With the first two systems at BMW and Next representing the first generation, the fourth evolutionary stage is already in the starting blocks, to ensure at myToys, for example, that there are happy kids’ eyes at Christmas.

In this fourth generation, our new shuttle type »SHU110« has undergone some significant changes: the new rail is directly visible, also from the outside. This enables us to reduce the minimum level distance by 25 mm and thus achieve a noticeably higher storage density than before, while reducing the costs for the steel construction. By adapting the telescopic grippers for particularly light and flat load carrying units, another 50 mm per level can be saved in future.

The main change to the shuttle itself is the redesigned chassis. It is no longer built as a completely welded construction, but with bolted center bars. In addition to a more efficient production, this results in a better adaptability of the shuttle to the different customer containers as well as a higher accuracy with regard to the two parallel telescopic grippers. This is particularly advantageous in systems where the shuttles change levels.

The latest generation has further been improved by the reduced weight and increased drive power, resulting in a higher driving speed. The use of a sandwich circuit board also reduces the wiring effort and increases the efficiency of the production process.

All these changes lead to an enhanced performance and higher storage density, while at the same time reducing the price for the vehicle – this is a competitive advantage both for us and for our customers.

Predictive Maintenance – Logistics 4.0 for our customers

Predictive maintenance of machines and system installations is an essential component of Logistics 4.0. Industry 4.0 comprises the comprehensive digitalization of industrial production. Logistics 4.0 is understood as the extension of this concept to logistics and intralogistics.

The main objective of predictive maintenance is a maintenance concept, which is adapted to the actual situation of the system components and which allows to reduce maintenance works to the actually necessary extent.

In comparison to earlier maintenance approaches, it is not only reacted when a fault has already occurred (reactive maintenance), with the associated high risk of longer downtimes. Predictive maintenance also avoids the premature replacement of still intact components (in accordance with rigid specifications) in order to prevent possible failures (preventive maintenance), this way reducing the costs for maintenance.

Predictive maintenance is a proactive maintenance of plants, assemblies and elements before downtimes or failures occur, with associated quality losses. The state of the monitored components is analyzed on the basis of cyclically recorded measurement data. A need for maintenance is only reported when the measured values deviate from the target state.

Prerequisite for this concept is the use of modern, networked components that provide information about their status, which is collected using IoT communication techniques and stored in a database. These data are then read out, analyzed and interpreted by higher-level logical systems.

psb is currently preparing the extension of its selektron intralogistics software by including the selektron PSM module (Predictive Service and Maintenance), which will be introduced step by step in the course of 2019.

selektron PSM is available in three versions:

selektron PSM be (basic edition)

In this version, defined raw system data are recorded and stored in a database which is accessible from outside. The customer can access these data with his own software tools, in order to evaluate the need for maintenance of the plant components.

selektron PSM ae (advanced edition)

This version builds on the basic edition. It additionally provides standardized evaluations of the monitored psb system components.

selektron PSM ee (enterprise edition)

This version contains extended, customer-specific evaluations and graphical representations of the interpreted data, in order to support the customer in planning his maintenance activities.

Production buffer with a shuttle warehouse and overhead conveyor technology

psb technology has already been used for many years in production logistics operations at the Bielefeld plant of the German domestic appliances manufacturer Miele: electric overhead monorail conveyors, »Power & Free« long-trolley overhead conveyors and floor-mounted conveyor technology. The overhead conveyor technology can take full advantage of its »three-dimensional mobility« in order to connect the assembly area, production buffer, testing facility and dispatch and to buffer components. The floor-mounted conveyor technology is used to organize the assembly lines.

Two major extensions to the psb production logistics have now been put into operation in Bielefeld in order to adjust the four assembly lines for dishwashers to a new production program in a future-proof manner. The conversion of production, with a significant increase in the number of so-called exotics, considerably increases the variety of components.

The store for inner door panels is operated with psb overhead conveyor technology (long trolleys with Power & Free). This technology also connects the store with the upstream production area and supplies the assembly lines. In addition to increasing the number of buffer lanes, psb also implemented a new storage and handling strategy, as the buffer lanes can no longer be allocated according to type. psb developed the static buffer into a dynamic hanging goods buffer with simple and direct access to all stored components.

A significant increase in capacity in the tub storage also required the optimization of the storage strategy for these components. Due to the conversion of production, a buffer with direct access to individual tubs has also become necessary for these large components. For this reason, psb planned and implemented a single-aisle shuttle warehouse with an aisle length of 115 m as a supplement to the existing system, which will continue to be used for fast-moving variants.

Up to 520 tubs, measuring 700 x 670 x 962 mm, can be stored in this warehouse. Two shuttles are in operation on each level; in the final stage there are 3 shuttles per level. Thus, up to 220 double cycles can be achieved for the storage and retrieval of the large components. The implementation of the shuttle buffer on a mezzanine in the dishwasher assembly hall has the advantage of excellent space utilization and very short transport distances.

A particular challenge was the seamless integration into the existing processes as well as the realization on the very narrow remaining space in the already intensively used buildings. In addition, most of the extensions were carried out without interrupting the production processes and were put into operation during the plant holidays.

Efficient overhead conveyor technology for Primark

Primark is a fashion retailer who successfully operates 325 stores in 11 countries. Each store occupies a retail space of several thousand square meters, offering fashion, shoes and accessories for women, men and kids, as well as home ware and beauty products.

In order to meet the positive business trends and to be prepared for the further growth in the central European market, Primark has established a new distribution center in the Netherlands. With its convincing concept psb intralogistics received the order for the realization of the warehousing and handling application for hanging items (covering an area of approx. 12,000 m²).

The static storage is supplied by manual conveyor technology, complemented by automated inclines and declines, which connect the four floor levels. The empty trolleys in the shipping area are also handled automatically by powered conveyors. The overall installation has been designed on the basis of the modular GTT system for overhead conveyors by psb, which stands out for a low purchase price and a flexible degree of automation.

On storage bars with a length totaling 44 km, combined with 17 km of overhead conveyor tracks, up to 180,000 hanging items sets, or approx. 2.7 million single parts, can be stored and handled. A single set weighs up to 12 kg; single items are not processed.

The inbound area with two telescopic loading bays has a capacity of 360 trolleys/h (720 sets or approx. 10,800 single items). At 14 shipping gates, 350 trolleys with 700 sets, or 10,500 single items, can be dispatched in an hour.

The overall system solution by psb features a very high degree of economic efficiency, as well as a high capacity and performance.

Multi Access Warehouse with four-deep storage

Mädler (Stuttgart) manufactures and sells a large number of toothing, gearing and drive technology products. In the course of major modernization measures in 2007, psb was awarded the contract to install a bin conveyor system. Until today, this system, which represents the core of the inhouse materials handling operations, is used for the connection of the receiving, warehousing, plattform and packaging areas.

In spring 2016, Mädler asked psb to replace the manually operated small parts warehouse. Due to the positive business trend, the capacity of the existing storage was not sufficient anymore. The result of a collaborative planning process with the customer was the integration of a one-aisle Multi Access Warehouse with vario.sprinter shuttles and laterally connected order picking stations.

With about 17,500 bin locations, the new storage is able to fulfill high performance requirements. On each of the 18 levels, a separate shuttle is operated, for the four-deep storage of bins of the dimensions 400 x 300 mm. Storage and retrieval of items in the Multi Access Warehouse is handled by the patented psb solution with bin lifts and conveyor tracks which are integrated into the warehouse block. Special feature of the system solution at Mädler is that two bins are automatically stacked above each other and then put into store as stack.

There are several reasons why Mädler chose psb as supplier also of the new intralogistics system. Besides the precise planning and the proven system installations, it was the customer’s very positive experience with our service and the maintenance team. The team »was always helpful and friendly« and any difficult situations were resolved »reliably and competently«.

Automation in mid-size businesses – modular shuttle warehouse

The scalable system modules by psb are the ideal start for mid-size businesses in automating their intralogistics processes.

DPV Elektronik-Service is an internationally operating specialist for electronics manufacturing. The company sells ESD-safe workplace equipment like tools, clothing, containers, etc. For DPV, fast and comprehensive delivery is of particular importance and a promise to its customers.

In view of the continuing positive business trend, the company decided to expand its facilities and automate its intralogistics processes. Up to that point, storage, picking and dispatch had been carried out manually.

Due to the limited space at the production site, a new logistics and service center was built in the vicinity. Core of that building is an automated small parts warehouse plus a manual pallet storage.

The small parts warehouse, with 11000 storage locations for totes, is a two-aisle shuttle warehouse, with 14 levels in each aisle. The easy scalability, providing for future security, was the reason why DPV decided in favour of such a shuttle system. 10 shuttles, implemented in the first extension step, are moved from level to level by a shuttle lift, which is installed in the warehouse pre-zone.

The order picking workplaces, which are connected with the warehouse, are operated according to the multi order principle. At each workplace, a maximum of 5 orders can be handled at the same time. The finished order totes are automatically supplied to 8 packing stations.

A high bay pallet warehouse is used for the manual storage and picking of items and/or quantities, which are not suitable to be stored in the automated small parts warehouse. Articles picked in this warehouse are provided at the packing stations to be consolidated with the small part items. A paternoster racking system and a small shelving storage, both for the handling of very small items and special parts, are integrated in the overall system.

After returns have been received, they are checked, processed and then stored in the small parts warehouse, too. Pick-optimised totes with mixed contents are provided with priority for the sales process again.

The shuttle warehouse, the manual warehouse areas and the paternoster racking system are controlled by the proven psb selektron WMS. The warehouse control is supported by the selektron SCADA software module.

Lasting partnership for successful intralogistics operations

Long-term customer partnerships are of great importance to psb. They are based on sustainable intralogistics solutions and a comprehensive lifecycle service.

One of psb’s long-term customers is Max Schlatterer GmbH. Under the brand name »Esband«, the company produces and sells worldwide drive belts, transport belts, special-type belts and belts for the cigarette industry.

In the second common project within a few years only, the expansion of the automated warehouse is presently being implemented: Schlatterer is adapting the company’s capacity to its extended product range and the increasing sales volume.

In the year 2011, the company decided to comprehensively modernise the entire in-house logistics with psb technology . Fast, efficient and transparent processes; those were the declared goals of the re-organisation. Up to that time, the entire in-house handling of the produced belts, accessories and further materials, and also their storage, had been carried out manually. The first step of the modernisation included the implementation of automated conveyors and a one-aisle automated small parts warehouse.

psb designed a conveyor system to connect the different production steps, the receiving area, dispatch and storage. The specific framework conditions of the project quickly led to the decision to employ a grid conveyor. The belts are transported hanging at hooks in bundles of about 8 kg weight.

In addition to the buffering and picking of finished goods, the automated small parts warehouse serves to take up various accessory components and further materials. A number of small and inefficient storage locations were consolidated in the new central warehouse facility.

With the growing product range and the increasing sales volume, the capacity of the small parts warehouse had no longer been sufficient. Therefore, the system was expanded by two more aisles. Now three aisles, in total 4000 totes are stored double-deep. A multimodal workplace has been connected with the warehouse, which can be used for both, order picking as well as for goods receipt and goods issue.

The first storage aisle was managed by the customer’s ERP system. In order to optimise the performance also in this respect, all functionalities are now controlled by the proven psb selektron WMS.

Already at this point, the interface to the ERP system has been designed in such a way, that it fits to a SAP WM system, which is planned for the future. The connection will be achieved by the certified psb selektron IDOC interface to SAP.