Twice as fast with double Satellite® technology
With a market share of 40%, the family firm of Hengstenberg in Esslingen, which was founded in 1876, is the frontrunner in Germany when it comes to producing and canning sauerkraut.
A workforce of 650 is on hand at 3 sites producing a range that totals some 600 articles including all available sizes:
Besides delivering within Germany, Hengstenberg also exports its products to 40 or so other countries. The company can boast total sales of EUR 143.5 million per year.
Tradition and innovation
The company is characterised by a symbiosis of tradition and innovation – adhering to successful products and developing new ideas. Quality is the catchword here:
"We see quality assurance as being a process of continuous improvement, which encompasses all areas and divisions of the company": that is Hengstenberg's corporate philosophy. Continuous improvement must therefore also apply to its in-house logistics system.
It was for exactly this reason that Westfalia Storage Systems, Borgholzhausen, was asked to come up with a new warehousing concept for the Bad Friedrichshall site.
Until then, the company had leased a large number of decentralised warehouses based there, taking the form of block storage facilities. This involved the use of numerous forklifts, lengthy distances and a high level of labour. However, the major disadvantage was the lack of a link to the production plant.
Automation and integration
The client had high expectations. The new warehouse was to manage without forklifts, making use of materials handling equipment instead, and to be directly linked to the production facility some 100 yards away. The plan was also to incorporate order picking in the material flow to optimise processes. Staff were to be replaced by special technology to minimise error rates (e.g., incorrect deliveries) and to maintain product quality at the same high level.
Complete warehousing logistics
The solution designed by Westfalia Storage Systems consists of a high-density Satellite® storage system with three storage and retrieval vehicles (SRVs), using the latest materials handling and computer technology for loading, control and management.
The stipulations of the building authorities for the warehouse measuring 117 m in length and 24 m in width were observed by using two different building heights of 22 m and 14 m.
Both storage blocks of the higher section have 10 storage levels each with 440 storage channels, designed for 9 or 14 pallets. The lower section has 8 levels with a total of 352 storage channels for 10 or 14 pallet positions.
In the higher part there are two railborne SRVs which feature the innovative technology of Westfalia's double chain Satellites®, capable of simultaneously conveying two pallets on after the other. This ensures a storage and retrieval capacity of 120 pallets/hour for each SRV. This caters for the client's requirements in a particularly cost-efficient manner as this special solution allows the company to reduce the number of installed storage and retrieval vehicles, materials handling systems etc. to a minimum, whilst maximising the number of pallet positions at the same time. The smaller part of the warehouse is served by one SRV with a single Satellite®.
Hengstenberg mainly uses Euro pallets in the form of "dual-level" pallets in accordance with the customer's requirements. In other words, two low pallets with a load unit height of 1000 mm are provided with a piece of chipboard acting as an intermediate layer and stacked on top of each other by a fully automatic process. Storage positions with triple support ensure that the heavily laden pallets do not bow for troublefree storage and retrieval.
Stainless steel chain conveyors with a queuing function and automatic control, which have been specially designed for the foodstuffs industry, are used to transport the finished product from the production plant 100 yards away to the high-bay warehouse via a conveying bridge installed at a height of 5.5 m. For the retrieval goods, the dispatch and order picking zone were equipped with 4 delivery positions as well as another separate retrieval facility in the order picking zone. As Hengstenberg also stores goods that have been delivered externally at its Bad Friedrichshall plant, a receiving station is also provided in the dispatch area.
The 22,000 pallet positions in the new high-density Satellite®warehouse were organised using the inventory management system of Westfalia Logistics Software. An SAP/R3 interface is used to transmit warehouse movements to the host of the SAP system at the company's HQ in Esslingen via Idoc Communication to ensure an exact overview of products is always available.
Summary
After the introductory phase at the end of 2002 the client's expectations associated with the company's objectives were confirmed.
- The error rate for order picking was slashed
- Damage to products was minimised.
- The cost of in-house transport was cut significantly.
Despite business being purely seasonal between June and November, months in which the warehouse operates round the clock, a short payback period is expected.
Summary of storage system
- Fully automatic high-density storage system with double Satellite® technology
- Higher section of warehouse: 10 levels with 440 channels each with 9 / 14 positions
- Lower section of warehouse: 8 levels with 352 channels each with 10 / 14 positions
- Total pallet positions 1344 designed for pallets with weights between 30 and 1500 kg
- 3 SRVs (storage and retrieval vehicles) in total
- The higher section has 2 railborne SRVs with double Satellite® technology and the lower section 1 single Satellite®
- Capacity per SRV: 120 pallets/hr
- 22,000 pallet positions in total
