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Shuttle-operated psb warehousing solutions in the automotive industry

15.09.2010

In the »Zentrale Teileauslieferung« (ZTA; spare parts center) of BMW AG in Dingolfing, Germany, widely used spare parts are picked out of a psb vario.sprinter warehouse.

An essential part of the intralogistics system solution is the so-called »fast movers zone«, located in the psb shuttle-operated warehouse. More than twenty psb vario.sprinters supply the order picking workstations with spare parts out of the storage aisles. The regional distribution centers in Germany, and all BMW importers worldwide, are provided with spares from the center in Dingolfing. Furthermore, approx. 300 BMW dealers receive the required items directly from this facility.

The flexible adaptation to increasing demands, in the distribution structures, represents a major benefit of the implemented solution. In fully-automated operations, several palletizing robots take cartons of different sizes, with the same kind of articles, out of pallet cages and put them onto empty plastic trays. Then, these trays are taken into storage. The number of storage positions in the warehouse ranges in the five-digit area.

If an item is ordered, complete cartons are made available on trays for the palletizing robots, and are picked fully-automatically by the gantry robots. Partial removals from the cartons are processed at several order picking stations, and afterwards are forwarded in bins to the route sorter. Several, very small orders, can be placed into one transport bin; detailed distribution is carried out by the already existing psb ringsorter system. In each storage aisle, vario.sprinters allow for a dynamic storage. With lifts, the shuttles are transferred to the desired level. With this concept, the required performance in the warehouse can be managed, always with
view into the future.

The software control in this project is implemented by the psb selektron WMS Warehouse Management System. In interaction with the psb selektron MFC Material Flow Control, the available resources are utilized most efficiently. The psb selektron SCADA module allows for a clear visualization of the complex overall system installation.