Würth Industrie Service commissions new high-bay warehouse
59,000 new storage spaces on over 4,000 square meters: Würth Industrie Service continues to expand its logistics.
Würth Industrie Service
01-Aug-2024
Our writers
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5 Minutes
59,000 palette storage spaces on an area of 4,000 square metres with a height of 50 metres: The excavations for building a new automated high-bay warehouse with additional 59,000 storage spaces covering more than 4,000 square metres started as early as July 2022. Now the extended logistics centre of Würth Industrie Service GmbH & Co. KG has been put into operation as planned. With building dimensions at record level rarely seen in this overall complexity, this project marks a significant milestone in the 25-year company history of the C-Parts expert.
Würth Industrial Park is considered as one of the most advanced logistics centres for industrial supply in the entire Europe. On an area of around 70,000 square metres, around 20,000 customers are securely supplied with production resources as well as auxiliary and operating materials, wherein daily around 500 tonnes of goods leave this logistics centre in Bad Mergentheim. Modern, fully automated high-bay and shuttle warehouses with a capacity of more than 700,000 storage spaces, a 34-kilometre-long conveyor system, autonomous bin shuttles, camera inspection systems and self-learning robots are used – all with the goal of optimised workplace ergonomics by taking over physically stressful tasks and an increased level of automation and digitalisation. In order to ensure the long-term supply security for all customers across Europe and to meet the demands of an increasingly growing product range of currently 1.4 million items, Würth Industrie Service invested over 30 million euros in the construction of a new, automated high-bay warehouse: 50 metres high, 34 metres wide and 121 metres long. In total, the C-Parts expert has expanded its capacity by 59,000 additional palette storage spaces. Now there are 235,000 palette storage spaces available at the site.
As the linchpin of the gigantic high-bay warehouse, the six rail-guided storage and retrieval machines take up the fully automated storage and retrieval of palettes with small parts in the storage over an aisle length of 120 metres. They operate in six aisles with a maximum travel speed of 180 m/min and a lifting speed of up to 70 m/min. Each SRM has two telescopic forks as load handling devices with a total load capacity of approximately 2,400 kg. The efficient 46-metre-high storage and retrieval machines are particularly economical on space thanks to their single column design and can carry out up to 600 pallet movements per hour with their two load handling devices. And this in an energy-saving manner. Because the energy requirement of the storage and retrieval machines is optimised with the help of the DC link coupling, which can divert the energy between two drives in a sensible manner.
Thanks to the direct integration of the high-bay expansion into the existing plant, the company is thus continuing its consistent automation strategy. For seamless implementation, the C-Parts expert relies on its experienced partners as well as IT professionals. Thanks to the double-depth design of the outer aisles, it was possible to optimise the storage density in addition to the statics, while at the same time considerably reducing the area required. Currently, around 60 different destinations, including picking robots or dispatch acceptance points, can be approached from the new high-bay warehouse. Through the automatic interaction of process-side prioritisation and technical utilisation control, the systems enable a constantly self-optimising material flow. Moreover, a new material flow controller, developed in-house, controls every palette movement. Thanks to its microservice architecture, the aisles were commissioned gradually – without interrupting the ongoing logistics operations. Due to the close coordination between logistics, operating technology and IT, the commissioning took place completely smoothly under constant consideration of official requirements and static specifications.
Insight: Voices from the management
“With the commissioning, we are completing one of the biggest construction phases in the high-bay warehouse area. The continuous further development of our logistics with the help of innovative technologies and novel approaches secures not only the future viability of our company, but also of Europe as a business hub”
Helmut Eisenkolb, General Manager of Logistics at Würth Industrie Service.
With its gigantic construction dimensions, the high-bay warehouse is an impressive new logistics building.
Impetus from outside
„As far as this type of construction is concerned, the impressive scale of the project not only sets new standards, but also sets a European record for the Kardex Mlog Division“
Lars Wagner, project manager Operations New Business Refurbishment bei MLOG Logistics GmbH
Another record in terms of dimensions
With construction measures that are being implemented and planned currently, Würth Industrie Service is not only taking significant steps to ensure a seamless supply to the customers in the future, but is also contributing to making a decisive contribution to sustainable energy supply at the site. It has been particularly successful in the area of sustainable energy production. For self-sufficient energy supply, Würth Industrie Service relies on renewable energies and has equipped the south facade of the new high-bay warehouse with an additional photovoltaic system in 2023. With a surface area of more than 4600 square metres, over 2000 modules and an output of over 1,000 kWp, the C-Parts partner has broken an essential record and is setting new standards. After all, the system stands out as one of the biggest photovoltaic facade systems in the D-A-CH region. This is also confirmed by PARK-SOLAR GmbH, a pioneer in the field of building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV). Currently, several photovoltaic systems with a total output of over 2,000 kWp and a generation volume of over 1,500,000 kWh are installed at the Drillberg site. For its sustainable operation, the C-Parts partner was honoured with the “Excellent sustainability 2023” award. Being one step ahead and acting in a sustainable and forward-looking manner is what the company stands for.
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