Tailor-made AutoStore® small parts warehouse for Theegarten-Pactec in Dresden
As one of the world's leading manufacturers in the packaging technology sector, Theegarten-Pactec GmbH & Co. KG develops high-quality and intelligent packaging machines. With innovative strength and premium quality, Theegarten-Pactec has specialized in small-part articles in the food and non-food sectors. At the company's headquarters in Dresden, an efficient automatic small parts warehouse was to be built to supply the assembly of packaging machines. HÖRMANN Logistik implemented an AutoStore® solution for the special spatial conditions and material flow requirements.
Concept
The control and recording of the delivered goods takes place at the goods receiving area. The quantities for AutoStore® storage are provided at the AutoStore® picking stations. As soon as a space becomes available in an AutoStore® bins, the picking employee stores an item and books it into the open AutoStore® bins waiting at the picking station. In this way, up to 60 items per hour are stored and a continuously high tote fill level is guaranteed. At the same time, the number of tote movements is kept to a minimum. If required, suitable AutoStore® bins can also be actively requested for storage. In this case, the WMS system selects the AutoStore® bin that has the corresponding free volume, can accommodate the incoming storage weight, and can be retrieved most quickly.
Intelligent algorithms optimize the movement of goods
In total, Theegarten-Pactec's AutoStore® warehouse comprises a good 14,000 bins, 6 robots and 3 storage/picking workstations. All goods movements within the AutoStore® system take place in a self-optimizing process. With help of an intelligent algorithm, reallocations within a stack begin in good time before the bin in question is transported for picking. At the same time, bins with less frequently used items sink steadily further down, while items with frequent accesses remain permanently at the top. In this way, the picking modules can be supplied with bins optimally and without waiting times for approx. 90 processes per hour.
