News
retrofit at PICANOL successfully implemented by psb
01.08.2012
During last year’s summer plant vacation, the specialist for weaving machines, PICANOL, of Belgium, modernized its internal logistics processes.
Under the project name »Atlantis«, psb AS/RS stacker cranes type maxloader, were replaced within a period of three weeks. PICANOL relied on psb, for the accurate preparation and on-time realization.
PICANOL is the market leader for weaving machines, with approx. 2,000 employees worldwide. At the company headquarters in Ieper, Belgium, an intralogistics system by psb provided for more than 20 years the assembly area with parts made in the company’s manufacturing facility, plus purchased and KANBAN parts and assembly kits. Both, the automated pallet warehouse (2 aisles) and the automated warehouse for totes (4 aisles) are integral parts of PICANOL’s internal supply chain.
After two decades of reliable operations, the time had come to replace the old AS/RS stacker cranes plus PLCs: on the one hand, the supply with electronic spare parts had become more complex; on the other hand, PICANOL wanted to enhance its productivity by faster warehousing operations; finally, the assembly workstations should be provided more individually, and with smaller batch sizes.
The system retrofit was planned by psb in cooperation with a logistics team of PICANOL. The customized concept, which aimed at resuming the manufacturing process right after the plant vacation, comprised of a detailed package of measures. Among others, the six new stacker cranes, plus the new aisle equipment, had to be brought into the building by a truck-mounted crane, through newly installed roof lights. Through these openings, the old stacker cranes were also taken out of the building. The interface between the new PLCs and the warehouse management software was already tested before the start of the vacations, by commissioning and putting into operation a complete aisle for totes.
As the period between dismantling and start of utilization of the first storage aisle exactly coincided with the very last mission of the US space shuttle »Atlantis«, this name was adopted for the comprehensive retrofit. Another reason for PICANOL to favor this name was the very high dynamical behavior of the new psb high performance stacker cranes. When being compared with the performance of the pre-retrofit system, the new pallet stacker cranes type maxloader are now about 50 % as fast, and the new stacker cranes for totes type sprinter are about twice as fast.
Both, the stacker cranes type maxloader, which can move a load of up to 1,000 kg, and the sprinter systems, with a capacity of up to 100 kg, are equipped with energy recovery modules. By these modules, the energy costs are reduced by approx. 30 %. During the retrofit measures, the safety technology was updated as well. Now, PCANOL’s warehousing technology is fit for the future.