 
Rear transition aisle for the Still MX-X in automatic mode.
Storing and retrieving pallets with the pallet lift and buffer lane for storing on the first level
View of the upper rack level with buffer positions at the head of each rack.
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In close cooperation with logistics service provider DSV, STILL GmbH has set a new high in warehouse automation. The Hamburg-based leading supplier of intelligent controls for Intralogistics has comprehensively reviewed and optimised the flow of materials in the central European warehouse of General Electric Plastics. Continuous warehouse operation – which could not be interrupted – meant that the assignment, which involved replacing the floor of the building, was carried out under difficult conditions.
For the first time, STILL MX-X VNA trucks, which operate fully automatically without drivers, are deployed at the plant, in Bergen op Zoom on the Oosterschelde (between Rotterdam and Antwerp) in the Netherlands. The ingenious interaction between manually operated counterbalance forklift trucks, autonomous VNA trucks and STILL’s Materialflow Management System (MMS) not only improved the processes in the plastics warehouse considerably, but also reduced the costs sufficiently for the investment to be amortised in less than two years.
Transport and logistics group DSV was established only recently by the merger of DFDS Transport (Denmark) and the Frans Maas Group (Netherlands) and occupies a world-leading world position in this industry. The collaboration with STILL has been going on since the completion (in 1989) of the original warehouse, which was designed for completely manual operation. Three years later the first truck guidance system from STILL was installed, with data transmission through inductive wiring. In 1995 the narrow-aisle trucks were replaced by new STILL MX 16 models. The data from the first truck guidance system was intensively evaluated to provide valuable input during the planning and design of the new warehouse.
The newly-designed warehouse consists of 24 aisles, 107 metres long, with some 25,000 pallet locations. 18 aisles are automated with four STILL trucks, all able to operate in the immediately adjacent aisles to suit the material flow requirement, regardless of the zone disposition selected.
In the remaining six aisles the VNA trucks are operated manually. This allows unusual pallet sizes, often found in the plastics industry, to be located and retrieved efficiently. The autonomous MX-Xs are suitably upgraded standard trucks which can also be operated manually in the section of the warehouse allocated. “In this way we have enhanced the already high flexibility,” explained Jörg Brüning, STILL’s Warehouse and Materialflow Management Systems Manager.
Round-the-clock warehouse operation
After presenting the concept and budget quotation, STILL was asked to prepare the technical specification. This detailed document formed the basis for the order for implementation, placed at the end of 2003.
Analysis of historical data showed extreme peak loading on individual days and times. “Often, we have to cope with throughput doubling from one day to the next.” said Meinderdjan Botman, Solutions Director at DSV. It was therefore decided to run a simulation of the processes first, so as to avoid potential bottlenecks. This enabled storage and retrieval capacities to be matched accurately to needs, as were working times and breaks for the workforce. |
