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Case study: Fully automated intralogistics at Wildeboer

08.04.2025

An efficient production supply, a high degree of automation and ergonomic workstations - with these goals in mind, Wildeboer, an expert in building components for fire protection, air distribution, building systems technology and sound insulation, has built a modern logistics center. Together with Unitechnik, Wildeboer developed an automated storage system at its headquarters in Weener that fully automates the non-value-adding intralogistics processes.

»Simply build trust« - this is what the family business Wildeboer, founded in 1939, stands for. With an extensive vertical range of manufacture, the engineering company develops and manufactures components for the areas of fire and noise protection, air distribution and building systems technology - components »made in Germany«. The company's head office is located in Weener in East Frisia and is complemented by further sites in Laupheim, Lützen and Utrecht. Over 350 employees work at the headquarters on a total production area of 60,000 square meters.

Decentralized storage slowed down processes
At the East Frisian company, a lack of storage capacity meant that large quantities of material had to be stored temporarily in decentralized manual warehouses and on staging areas in the production halls. »Our aim was to centralize the functional areas along the internal logistics chain, introduce a consistent goods-to-person principle and at the same time ensure end-to-end material traceability,« explains Arne Bröske, Head of Production at Wildeboer. »The automation of our processes was essential for this.« A central, automated storage system was not only intended to minimize manual processes, but also to open up additional space for assembly and production.

Strategic partnership for future-oriented logistics
After Wildeboer had commissioned an external planner with the logistics planning of the automated processes in the warehouse, the decision was made - based on a recommendation - in favor of in-depth expertise from Unitechnik Systems GmbH. The decisive criteria for the cooperation were, on the one hand, Unitechnik's distinct understanding of processes: the ability to precisely record Wildeboer's business processes and to develop a tailor-made solution based on this. Equally decisive was the vendor-independent and solution-oriented elaboration of the detailed planning by a medium-sized family business, into which the experience from many realized projects has flowed.

Working in close partnership, Wildeboer and Unitechnik initially developed a comprehensive overall logistics concept that included the separation of production and storage areas as well as the expansion of a total of 10,500 square meters of logistics space. The concept was primarily geared towards the scalability of the logistics. Unitechnik was able to design the corresponding storage systems in such a way that they could grow flexibly with future requirements. Process reliability is also a key requirement of the concept: the construction of a new logistics center should ensure reliable production supply and goods dispatch with high availability. Inventory management according to the so-called first-in-first-out principle should guarantee seamless goods tracking. In addition, Unitechnik was able to take into account the supply and connection of component assemblies on different floors in the design. The automated interim storage of customer-specific manufactured products and the dispatch buffering of pre-packed consignments should also contribute to the optimization of Wildeboer's logistics processes. Another key factor is the high degree of automation, which enables ergonomic and efficient workstations in incoming goods, order picking and shipping. The new logistics processes aim to reduce walking distances for employees and manual transportation to a minimum.

Digital warehouse management: optimized processes thanks to UniWare
The logistics center implemented by Unitechnik is Wildeboer's central material flow hub. At its center are a three-aisle high-bay warehouse for Euro pallets and mesh boxes with 9,230 storage locations and a single-aisle automated small parts warehouse for KLT containers. Raw materials, semi-finished and finished products are stored here. Material for both production and customer orders is assembled at combined pallet and container picking stations. The raw materials for production are transferred to various driverless transport systems. All manufactured components are in turn collected from production by these AGV vehicles, delivered to the Unitechnik conveyor system and stored. The driverless transport systems were procured and commissioned by Wildeboer itself. The special thing about it: in order to be independent of individual manufacturers, Wildeboer relies on a fleet management system in accordance with the VDA 5050 standard. In future, autonomous cleaning robots will even be on the road and »coordinate« with their productive colleagues.

The consolidation of orders plays a major role at Wildeboer. The aim is to minimize the shipping volume. To this end, the pallets destined for customer orders are initially stored automatically in a highly dynamic shipping buffer. The pallets retrieved by Wildeboer's own consolidation software automatically travel to the consolidation zone. According to the »pack-by-light« principle, the employee can see at a glance which pallets belong to the same order via colored light displays and arranges the items in such a way that as few pallets as possible are required. This re-compaction saves freight costs and protects the environment. As the products are usually delivered to construction sites, the pallets are wrapped rainproof by an automatic wrapper before loading.

Technical sophistication meets collaborative partnership
Wildeboer's high technical standards can be seen in many details. For example, a pallet inspection system integrated into the automatic logistics system tests every incoming Euro pallet for standard-compliant dimensions. The UniWare warehouse management system from Unitechnik coordinates all material flows on the conveyor system and all warehouse movements. The infinitely zoomable system visualization always provides the intralogistics manager Marcel Stephan with the current status of the system. »UniWare helps me to quickly identify and rectify the causes of faults. It is therefore an indispensable tool for me on my notebook,« explains Marcel Stephan.

As the collaboration between Wildeboer and Unitechnik began in 2019, the construction of the new logistics center was affected by the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. Delivery bottlenecks not only led to delays in the schedule, but also demanded a high degree of flexibility from everyone involved in the project. »Timely agreements and well-coordinated collaboration were crucial throughout the course of the project,« emphasizes Arne Bröske. »All the more reason for us to appreciate having a competent system integrator like Unitechnik at our side, with whom the partnership-based cooperation was characterized by uncomplicated agreements.«

Lifetime partnership for sustainable success
Even after the project has been completed, both project partners remain in regular contact and exchange information with each other. »It is particularly important to us to remain a reliable contact for Wildeboer even after the successful implementation,« explains Yusuf Kaya, Key Account Manager for logistics systems at Unitechnik. Thanks to forward-looking planning, Unitechnik laid the foundations for future expansions right at the start of the project: The interfaces of the new logistics center were prepared in terms of software and conveyor technology so that Wildeboer could easily integrate driverless transport systems. »As a life-time partner, we are available to our customers around the clock and continue to work closely with them even after the project has been completed in order to identify and implement continuous optimization potential in the warehouse,« emphasizes Yusuf Kaya.