Acting as general contractor for part of Lufthansa Cargo’s LCCevo programme, Kardex has completed a new Medium Load Pallet System (MLP) at Frankfurt Airport.
The central pallet storage facility consists of a 4-aisle, fully automated high-bay warehouse for 1,270 pallets with the appropriate storage and retrieval conveying technology, a picking zone with two vertical lift modules (VLM), and a manually operated rack within a cold room for the storage of diverse customer freight ranging from »dangerous goods« (DGR) to pharmaceutical freight. The goods turnover time for these freight shipments within the LCC is approximately 24 hours. Warehouse organisation and material flow control are carried out via an iFD warehouse management system.
The project was a core component of the ALPHA construction phase for the LCCevo, and with the completion of this phase, Lufthansa Cargo has reached an important milestone. The next few years will see the creation of a European-leading, state-of-the-art air cargo centre at Frankfurt Airport, with Lufthansa Cargo investing approximately 600 million euros in the refurbishment of the existing cargo hub. The work is being carried out during ongoing 24/7 operations across a floor space of approximately 80,000 square metres. In the upcoming construction phases, the Lufthansa Cargo Centre will expand to become Europe’s most modern air freight centre.
Heavy loads, high throughput, high-frequency workflows, and 24/7 round-the-clock operation are all designed for maximum availability: Lufthansa Cargo’s LCCevo programme places exceptional demands on the logistical infrastructure, which does not allow for isolated stand-alone solutions. In an international air freight hub, in particular, it is not just the performance of individual components that counts, but rather the interaction of the entire system.
The core component of the LCCevo programme is the ultra-modern, fully automated MLP storage system (Medium Load Pallet System) with 1,270 pallet storage spaces and a height of 10.5 metres. With the MLP system, Lufthansa Cargo is setting new standards in storage logistics for fragile and delicate shipments. It has been specially designed for lighter, sensitive, or complex cargo, such as dangerous goods in accordance with the DGR (Dangerous Goods Regulations) and GDP (Good Distribution Practice), pharmaceutical freight, and other temperature-sensitive goods. The MLP system guarantees constant warehouse temperatures of 20 °C, supplemented by a direct connection to a cold room at 5 °C, ensuring stable quality conditions during the entire storage period.
Direct Communication The MLP system features four stacking cranes of type Kardex MSingle A and two vertical storage lifts of type Kardex Shuttle XP 500. The picking stations here have a pick-by-light system and a hand scanner. A JMIF (Java Machine Interface) developed by Kardex enables direct communication between the storage lifts and the higher-level »WarehousePilot« warehouse management system.
As part of the project, the »WarehousePilot« intralogistics platform was supplied and implemented by iFD, which was selected for the purpose by Lufthansa Cargo. Kardex Mlog was responsible for integrating the solution into the overall system and ensuring seamless interaction of all system components.
»WarehousePilot«, also supplied by Kardex, enables optimal material flow in the pallet conveyor system across all storage areas while ensuring compliance with various regulations such as GDR and GDP.
The MLP system has been designed to enable 110 storage and 110 retrieval operations every hour. These consist of 70 direct retrieval operations from the four-aisle high-bay warehouse and 40 load units from one of the two Kardex Shuttle XP 500 machines. Each of these tray storage facilities has been designed to enable 40 tray storage and 40 tray retrieval operations every hour.
