Issue 9 L GISTICS REVIEW DEMATIC INSIGHT The role of R&D in developing solutions VOICE TECHNOLOGY Dematic case picking solution for beverages GLOBAL CASE STUDIES Smart ideas from around the world Creating Logistics Results NETTO, DENMARK ROBOTIC FRESH PRODUCE PICKING & PALLETIZING WEICHEI POWER: CHINA Smart zone routing conveyor system delivers OSTERMANN: GERMANY DC extension improves furniture handing capabilities NETTO, DENMARK ROBOTIC FRESH PRODUCE PICKING & PALLETIZING WEICHEI POWER: CHINA RapidStore ASRS lifts production support capacity OSTERMANN: GERMANY DC extension improves furniture handling capabilities
Transcript
DEMATIC LOGISTICS REVIEW
Issue 9
L GISTICSREVIEW
DEMATIC INSIGHT The role of R&D in developing solutions
VOICE TECHNOLOGY Dematic case picking solution for beverages
GLOBAL CASE STUDIES Smart ideas from around the world
Creating Logistics Results
NETTO, DENMARK ROBOTIC FRESH PRODUCE PICKING & PALLETIZING
WEICHEI POWER: CHINA Smart zone routing conveyor system delivers
competitively-priced goods delivered to their door the next day completely incomprehensible.
As globalization takes hold and cross-border competition grows, the supply chain becomes increasingly important. And one of the most critical factors impacting the supply chain is the cost and availability of labor.
As baby boomers exit the workforce in western economies and are substituted with more highly educated and skilled Gen Ys, it’s not surprising that finding and motivating people to work in warehouses and distribution centers is becoming increasingly difficult.
So what does a supply chain professional look for when investing in logistics to provide a strategic advantage?
The ability to react quickly, accurately and at the lowest cost is essential to surviving in all service-related industries.
As we know, the only future certainty is change, and today change is occurring at a faster pace than ever before. The Global Financial Crisis in 2008 was a catalyst. And while the recovery is ongoing, companies and consumers alike want more for less. Simply put, they value “value”.
Competition has changed too. And it’s coming from the most surprising directions.
Who, for example, could imagine the power of Google, a company that didn’t exist before 1998? Or equally impressive, Amazon’s rise to become one of the world’s largest retailers.
Information availability has shifted the balance of power in the supply chain, switching firstly from manufacturers in the 1960s, to retailers in the 1990s, and now today to the consumer.
Our grandparents would have found the idea of people all around the world shopping online in a virtual global marketplace and having
DEMATIC LOGISTICS REVIEW
Welcome to the 9th edition of Dematic Logistics Review, our customer magazine designed to give you an insight into the rapidly progressing world of Dematic and the success of our customers around the globe.
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FLEXIBILITY, MODULARITY & SCALABILITY: THE KEYS TO SUPPLY CHAIN SUCCESS IN TODAY’S RAPIDLY CHANGING MARKETS
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ContentsCover Story: Netto, DenmarkCase Study: Helukabel, GermanyCase Study: Weichai Power, China Insight: The role of R&D in optimizing systemsCase Study: Ostermann, GermanyCase Study: Kmart, AustraliaTechnology: Voice for Beverage Distribution
Ulf Henriksson, President & CEO Dematic
Seamless global networks with interconnected logistics systems, software and smart IT are part of the answer, with automated solutions becom-ing increasingly important to achieve and main-tain a competitive edge in many markets.
Innovative Dematic logistics solutions including our world-first integrated robotic picking and palletizing system for Netto’s fresh produce DC in Denmark; our Australia-wide cross docking network for discount variety retailer Kmart; and our pre-configured voice-directed order pick-ing system specially developed for beverage distributors in North America, are all great ex-amples of integrated logistics solutions created to address the key global drivers impacting the supply chain for the foreseeable future.
These systems address logistics professionals’ needs today and tomorrow by providing:
• Flexibility, which creates the ability to adapt to rapidly changing SKU profiles and order cycles
• Modularity, based on cost-effective standard-ized building blocks
• And Scalability, for greater ease in addressing rapid expansion or seasonal peaks.
I’m also very pleased to provide you with news of two exciting new developments in the Dematic world.
Firstly, the imminent full scale launch of Dematic’s next-generation software platform, which extends beyond traditional warehouse control systems into knowledge-based logis-tics optimization and, secondly, I would like to announce the acquisition of maintenance man-agement systems and software specialist Upturn Solutions, which underlines our drive to empha-size the importance of all aspects of business intelligence.
We will bring you a full feature on these exciting initiatives in the next Dematic Logistics Review.
I trust you enjoy this issue, and hope it provides inspiration and ideas that you can apply to im-prove your own logistics and supply chain pro-cesses.
DEMATIC LOGISTICS REVIEW
About Dematic
Dematic is one of the world’s leading suppliers of logistics automation sys-tems and solutions. As a systems integrator, Dematic delivers a full range of technologies and services, from individual products and systems to complete turnkey solutions as a general contractor, as well as complete after-sales support and service. Dematic provides automated material handling products, systems and solutions for retail and wholesale distri-bution, consumer direct, grocery, food and beverage, and manufacturing industries. Dematic’s products and services are based on a tradition of industry expertise that the company has acquired over decades of com-mitment worldwide. Globally the company employs around 4,000 people.
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FLEXIBILITY, MODULARITY & SCALABILITY: THE KEYS TO SUPPLY CHAIN SUCCESS IN TODAY’S RAPIDLY CHANGING MARKETS
DEMATIC LOGISTICS REVIEW
NETTO KØGE, DENMARK
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NETTO’S FRESH APPROACH TO PRODUCE DISTRIBUTION
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FRESH PRODUCE PICKING & PALLETIZINGINTEGRATED ROBOTIC PICKING & PALLETIZING
World-first robotic picking and palletizing system
Dematic has implemented a world-first integrated system to automate the order picking and pallet-izing of fruit and vegetables at Netto’s distribution center in Køge, Denmark, around 20 miles south of Copenhagen.
More than 70% of order pallets are now picked and palletized automatically in the Danish supermarket chain’s central fresh goods handling warehouse.
Project highlights include:
• 15 cells containing palletizing robots with new gripper systems for fully automated pallet picking, packing and palletizing
• Integrated conveyor systems
• A manual pick-by-voice order picking area
• Order processing times of less than 30 minutes.
Automating fresh produce distribution
In the fresh produce sector, an efficient supply chain and one-touch handling are essential.
Netto’s integrated system incorporates complete-ly new logistics technologies, high-performance
robots and sophisticated software, facilitating fast one-touch handling, and minimizing the po-tential for product damage during order assembly.
Denmark’s strict work safety regulations
A key driver for the project design is the fact that Denmark has some of the strictest work safety regulations in the world. These regulate, among other things, how much weight an employee can lift in total per shift, and up to what height goods can be accessed. Scissor-lift tables used to raise and lower pallets are often a typical feature in Danish logistics centers.
Goods receipt at Netto’s Køge DC
All fresh produce is delivered to the Køge DC on pallets stacked up to about 8 feet high. After docking, incoming goods pallets are transferred to a roller conveyor or for allocation to the manu-al pick-by-voice order assembly area.
The conveyor system distributes incoming goods pallets onto a conveyor. Four in-feed conveyors transport the pallets to one of the 15 robot cells. The conveyor lanes are both feed and return paths and each lane carries single SKU pallets.
NETTO’S FRESH APPROACH TO PRODUCE DISTRIBUTION
Denmark’s high wages and workplace safety regulations governing the total weight people can lift within a period of time means the Danes are open to innovative labor and cost-saving order assembly initiatives.
In a world-first, Dematic has integrated a robotic fresh produce picking, palletizing and dispatch system for Danish retailer Netto.
Buffer stock for the picking cells ensures the robots never waste time waiting for stock.
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NETTO KØGE, DENMARK
Order picking and palletizing
When the stock pallets are fed into one side of the cell, the robot picks up one or two of the han-dling units (banana-boxes, fruit and vegetables in open plastic crates or cartons with a base of 2 ft x 15 inches) according to the settings in the IT sys-tem, so in one operation, it’s either a quarter or a half pallet layer that the robot picks and places onto order pallets with each pick.
Dematic’s Warehouse Control System (WCS) specifies any restrictions for pallet formation in-cluding weight and optimum volume utilization.
A separate empty pallet circulation system was installed for the required empty pallets for or-der assembly. This pool consists largely of the empty incoming goods pallets, and the robots are equipped with an integrated pallet-gripping device for this purpose.
There are 15 robot cells in the Køge DC, each ca-pable of picking from up to five SKUs at a time, which means that up to 75 product groups can be picked concurrently. Online buffer storage capac-ity at each pallet in-feed lane means there is no need for circulation or overflow paths for in-feed sequencing. This means orders can be picked in batches in the robot cells, one after the other.
Order management and control
Dematic’s WCS controls the inward goods deliv-eries, optimizes conveyor routing and picking and palletizing within the 15 robot cells.
Pallets are always built on the basis of a maxi-mum of 28 different packs – in the worst case scenario, this means a maximum of four stops between the empty pallet and completed ship-ping pallet to the robot cells.
With the robot’s new gripper head technology, it’s possible to handle five SKUs on all 15 robot cells and, by placing fast moving items on more robot cells, Netto also has redundancy built into the system.
Pallet stretch wrapping and dispatch
Completed order pallets in the robot cells are re-moved automatically by the pallet stacking rack systems via one of two roller conveyors con-nected at multiple points in the outgoing goods handling direction. In this process, the twin-track conveyor line is used both for loading and unload-ing the robot cells. Empty incoming goods pallets are picked up by the robots and transferred to the empty pallet conveyor line for ongoing use.
The final highlight of the innovative system design is the outgoing goods handling system, located on the second level. Here completed pallets are fed to a temporary storage location in their stack-ing racks on the roller conveyor tracks.
In an exact, predefined position underneath the outgoing goods handling system, a lift raises completed pallets out of their pallet stacking racks, up onto the second level, where the pal-let is automatically stretch wrapped before being directed to dispatch.
Incoming pallets of stock for orders have their profile checked before being inducted into the robotic pallet picking system.
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Innovative new technologies from Dematic
Manual pick-by-voice order assembly
Around 50 SKUs are handled in the manual Pick-by-Voice area. Dematic provided the entire com-munication structure, in addition to IT hardware such as application and database servers, and operational equipment including headsets, scan-ners, data terminals and PCs.
Integrated IT systems and software
The complex operating processes at Netto can only be optimized through a range of algorithms used by Dematic’s innovative software. Dematic’s IT system also automatically handles empty pallet management, calculates the order processing pri-orities and more in real-time, provides the optimum load equalization between automated and manual picking by order profile, and supplies printers with the necessary label printing information.
In addition to the fast, optimized handling pro-cesses, the system has provided Netto with ad-ditional free space for dispatch preparation and provides scope for further increases in incoming goods and throughput.
• Order pallets with fresh fruit and vegetables automatically assembled in under 30 minutes
• Optimum weight and volume utilization through Dematic WCS specifications for pallet formation
• Compact design provides additional space for dispatch preparation plus options for further improving incoming goods and dispatch
• Single source system and IT design and supply, supported by a resident service contract.
Peter Hüttel, Dematic Product Support Engineer (left) with a contractor and Dematic Scandinavian BDM & Sales Manager, Finn Biller (right).
Above: Robots can lift one or two trays, cartons or crates at a time. Products are placed into a stacking racks, which lower as the pallet is being built.
Left: Pallets are transported in their stacking racks until they reach the outgoing goods station. A lift raises the pallet up to the next level where it is stretch wrapped and staged for dispatch.
FRESH PRODUCE PICKING & PALLETIZINGINTEGRATED ROBOTIC PICKING & PALLETIZING
DEMATIC LOGISTICS REVIEW8
HELUKABELHEMMINGEN, GERMANY
ASRS UNIT & CASE/TOTE HANDLING FOR HELUKABEL
New automated materials handling and integrated order processing techniques have significantly improved distribution efficiencies for German electrical cable supplier, Helukabel.
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Dematic has more than pleased us as a customer in every
respect. The company was well represented,
quickly delivered solutions, and acted very professionally.
Trial runs started after 13 months – even
sooner than we had initially expected.
The overall cooperation was very successful
and has provided high value for our company.
Helmut Luksch, Founder, Owner and Managing Director,
Helukabel
DEMATIC LOGISTICS REVIEW
DEMATIC LOGISTICS REVIEW 9
Helukabel’s new DC is delivering a host of ben-efits to its 15,000 global customers including:
• Same-day dispatch of orders received by 3 pm
• Delivery of prefabricated orders within 48 hours
• 100% inventory control, also for residual lengths of cable that have been returned to stock.
The order-to-delivery time has been significantly reduced, with delivery quality also improving.
Helukabel’s supply chain challenge
Many of Helukabel’s customers order cables cut to length, along with a wide variety of accessories like tools and cable ties.
The company services 15,000 customers world-wide, with an annual shipment capacity of around 24,000 tons of cable.
The challenge of processing a constantly increas-ing number of smaller, more frequent orders, with an associated rise in manufacturing and logistics costs per order, required a revision of the com-pany’s existing supply chain strategy.
Strong business growth had also stretched Helukabel’s existing distribution capacity to the limit, resulting in a fractured approach to distribu-tion with product storage, pallet storage, small ac-cessories storage, order picking and prefabrica-tion distributed over several facilities.
New centralized distribution hub
With the dual goals of faster, more efficient order processing and a simultaneous reduction of costs per order, Helukabel contracted Dematic to plan a new logistics solution.
When Dematic began investigating Helukabel’s logistics requirements, the cable specialist’s exist-ing strategy was reviewed, including the potential integration of its cable prefabrication operation.
Huge potential cost savings quickly became obvi-ous during the development of a new, demand-based strategy. Dematic devised detailed plans and prepared the tender documentation for con-struction and building works, as well as for the logistics equipment.
ASRS UNIT & CASE/TOTE HANDLING FOR HELUKABEL
Dematic’s integrated ASRS solutions for pallets and totes provides fast, reliable, accurate product storage and retrieval for German cable specialist Helukabel.
MANUFACTURING PRODUCTION SUPPORTAUTOMATED STORAGE & RETRIEVAL
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HELUKABELHEMMINGEN, GERMANY
The ergonomic design of the new workstations, helps reduce errors, and eliminates the potential for damage during handling by forklift trucks.
MANUFACTURING PRODUCTION SUPPORTAUTOMATED STORAGE & RETRIEVAL
Centralized distribution and production optimization
Dematic was awarded the contract to implement the overall concept as general contractor, with the project including a new high-bay warehouse with 16,000 pal-let locations and seven RapidStore UL machines.
The stacker cranes replenish the bay racks for the picking of accessories, transport larger lots on pallets via conveyors directly to picking stations, and also re-turn cable reels for cut-to-length orders as well as any remaining reels to the high-bay warehouse.
In order to optimize the available high-bay warehouse space, the cable reels are stored in an upright/flat combination.
The production and warehouse building is spread over two levels, with a vertical conveyor connecting the goods-in and goods-out level with the storage and picking level.
This permits a perfect material flow within the small-est possible footprint. Planning for the DC also took future expansion options into account and makes the investment fit for further growth.
Faster, safer, easier to handle
Special handling equipment was jointly developed with Helukabel in order to simplify and accelerate the handling of cable reels and, above all, make the pro-cess safer.
This equipment is used in the goods-in area, at picking stations and in the order consolidation zone. It serves the purpose of rotating and tilting the cable reels, and in handling the relocation of reels and cable coils.
This also improves the ergonomic design of the work-stations, helping reduce errors, and eliminates the potential for damage during handling by forklift trucks. Special pallet-top frames were designed for the trans-port of the cable reels, which ensures safe handling, even during high-speed transfers by the stacker cranes.
Quicker order turnaround, and increased throughput
Due to paperless order and dispatch processing, the entire logistics process at Helukabel, from incoming goods to inventory, production, dispatch and invoic-ing, is available in a single database.
The core of Helukabel’s IT system is a customized warehouse management system (WMS), which not only controls and manages planning, scheduling and material provision, but also the integration of the pro-duction environment, including the cut-to-order work-stations.
The order-based prefabrication is automated all the way to the selection of the cutting program.
Overall, the WMS interfaces with 40 PC and RF ter-minals making all processes transparent, manages 31,000 items, and processes all daily orders. It also facilitates the automatic forwarding of orders provided by the host to the production and warehouse environ-ment, and manages the site’s outdoor storage areas.
DEMATIC LOGISTICS REVIEW
WEICHAI POWER SHANDONG WEIFANG, CHINA
When it became apparent that compact and reliable buffer storage and retrieval was essential to enhance the efficiency of its diesel engine, gearbox and axle manufacturing plant in Shandong, Weichai Power, one of China’s largest manufacturers, turned to Dematic.
CASTING A GOOD REPUTATION IN CHINA
Weichai Power’s Shandong Weifang factory is one of China’s largest manufacturing and assembly centers for high-speed diesel engines used in au-tomotive and marine engines, and power genera-tors. Its highly advanced core-making center runs alongside, and interfaces with, a parallel molding line. However, the two operations do not match perfectly due to variations in production capacity, shift timing and different working efficiencies. This had a detrimental effect on overall production ca-pacity, but presented a great opportunity.
Weichai Power’s first application of ASRS
Weichai Power previously implemented a low-cost Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS) buffer storage solution in its casting cen-ter for core sand and molds, however, due to reli-ability, the system did not meet expectations.
Despite this, Weichai Power recognized that us-ing ASRS as a buffer store could improve effi-ciency, so it decided to re-evaluate suppliers and solutions.
MANUFACTURING PRODUCTION SUPPORTAUTOMATED STORAGE & RETRIEVAL
Right: Integrated conveyors transport production materials throughout the casting factory.
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DEMATIC LOGISTICS REVIEW
Management set up very clear expectations and tangible requirements for the project covering feasibility, efficiency, and supplier evaluation, through to reliability of software, safety and sta-bility of the whole system.
That is when Dematic was engaged. Dematic’s RapidStore ASRS, manufactured in Suzhou, was demonstrated to all top management within Wei-chai Power and was highly praised by all who viewed it. After a thorough evaluation of ASRS suppliers, Dematic was chosen as the system supplier, even though its solution was more ex-pensive than many of its competitors.
Weichai Power’s first Dematic RapidStore ASRS
In 2010, Weichai Power decided to implement a new ASRS buffer store in the casting center. The project included the provision of conveyor sys-tems and an ASRS with five RapidStore storage and retrieval machines (SRMs) for its cylinder block workshop and warehouse and cylinder head workshop and warehouse respectively.
Empty pallets are transported on conveyors and then allocated to pre-set mold working stations in the required order. After molding is completed, the core sand will either be conveyed to the next working station where it is required or put-away into the ASRS for storage until it is required again.
The ASRS is used to store both core sands and empty pallets, and provides buffer storage for both production lines.
Weichai Power adds extra RapidStore ASRS
The success of the project led Weichai Power to implement two subsequent ASRS systems, us-ing the high-performance, highly reliable Dematic RapidStore ASRS system.
Weichai Power’s additional ASRS are used for two cylinder body warehouses.
The new project has a higher throughput require-ment, with six RapidStore SRMs equipped with positioning devices to facilitate high speed auto-mated load-on and load-off of products.
Dematic’s Planning Manager, Hu Jinbin, said: “Within the limited area of the warehouse and the limited number of SRMs, we were able to maxi-mize the whole system’s throughput, with 35 dou-ble cycles per hour per SRM.”
Using clever design, the factory’s pallet conveyor system operates as a space-efficient closed loop. Empty pallets are circulated continuously.
The closed loop is laid out either at one level or at identical dual levels, halving the footprint required for the ASRS. Empty pallets are transported on the lower level and loaded pallets on the upper level.
Dematic has installed two RapidStore ASRS at Weichai Power’s casting factory at Shandong Weifang.
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“We appreciated Dematic’s proven technology and
knowledge, skilled project management, smart and efficient
teamwork and effective way of moving things
forward. We are really impressed with how well the
manufacturing logistics system
integrated into real production.”
WEICHAI POWER SHANDONG WEIFANG, CHINA
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MANUFACTURING PRODUCTION SUPPORTAUTOMATED STORAGE & RETRIEVAL SYSTEM
Integrated conveyors transport production materials throughout the casting factory.
Additional Dematic RapidStore ASRS benefits
The other highlight for ASRS in storing and han-dling core sand is efficiency.
Only one SKU can be handled in manual opera-tions. For other SKUs, they have to wait until the previous operation is completed, leaving no op-portunity for flexibility in production capacity.
Unlike normal warehouses, those equipped with ASRS are able to adjust the speed of material flow for in-feed to the production line. This ena-bles increased throughput without any extra pro-duction line investment.
ASRS also improves materials flow between up-stream and downstream operations, significantly improving production flexibility.
Dematic’s successful implementation of Weichai Power’s RapidStore ASRS systems was highly-praised highly by the customer.
In a thank-you letter, from Weichai Power the customer stated: “We appreciated Dematic’s proven technology and knowledge, skilled pro-ject management, smart and efficient teamwork and effective way of moving things forward. We are really impressed with how well the manufac-turing logistics system integrated into real pro-duction.”
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INSIGHTINTEGRATED LOGISTICS SYSTEMS
How research helps software development
Software strategies and algorithms are the foun-dation of any optimized solution. Think of traffic lights. The logic that controls the timing of the lights can be pretty simple or take into account time of day, traffic volumes, congestions in ad-jacent roads, etc. This can make the difference between you sitting in gridlock, or sailing through green lights at the busiest time of the day.
The same is true with the systems that we design.
Software is typically the secret sauce that we can’t see or touch, but is critical to the efficiency of integrated logistics solutions. For that reason,
“Strategy Analysis” has become one of the higher priority studies that we perform to provide our software development team with the information they need to develop optimized solutions.
For example, in a recent study, we set out to find the optimal Dematic Multishuttle Flex “Dynamic Storage Algorithm”. Deciding where to store vary-ing size boxes in a triple-deep rack can be com-plex and can lead to excessive fragmented and unusable space if not done properly. We designed a number of different storage algorithms and simu-lated them to see which produced the best utiliza-tion. The outcome was an algorithm that produced double the storage density of what was presumed to already be a pretty efficient algorithm!
A typical research project
The design of an optimum solution starts with figuring out what specific question(s) we are try-ing to answer. This sounds simple and yet is one of the more difficult and most critical parts of a
THE ROLE OF R&D IN DEVELOPING OPTIMAL SYSTEM SOLUTIONS
study. Next we design a series of experiments to help us answer these questions.
These experiments typically involve developing computer-aided simulation models, which simu-late a given solution under specific conditions.
Analyzing and making sense of the output data is where the detective work comes in.
This is where we draw conclusions and form recommendations based on hard evidence and factual data.
How research helps new product development
Equipment performance is typically about speed and acceleration and, to the extent that a piece of equipment has a simple motion profile, it is relatively easy to predict its performance.
R&D engineers have historically relied on static calculations for this purpose with great success.
As Dematic’s solutions become more sophisti-cated, however, these static models are no lon-ger sufficient and we start to look at using more advanced simulation tools and techniques.
Dematic Multishuttle, for example, is a very com-plex product with a lot of interdependencies be-tween the performance of shuttles, lifts, etc.
In one of our studies, we wanted to see if the Mul-tishuttle lift should be designed to carry one, two or three payloads.
Intuitively you may guess that a lift that can carry three loads would give us superior results.
In fact, when we analyzed the cost, performance and sequencing needs, a lift capable of handling two loads outperforms the other options.
Benny Rokni, the Director of Dematic Global Logistics Solutions, provides an overview of R&D Analysis vs Project Specific Simulation.
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Software is typically the secret
sauce that we can’t see or touch,
but is critical to the efficiency of our solutions.
DEMATIC LOGISTICS REVIEW 15
R&D SIMULATION & ANALYTICAL RESEARCH SUPPLY CHAIN APPLICATIONS
This is a simple example of how such analysis re-moves guesswork and provides R&D engineers with the information necessary to make informed design decisions.
Establishing how products can fit into solutions
One of our main objectives is to look at prod-ucts in the context of solutions. We want to make sure that new products fit into an overall solu-tion without having any detrimental effect on the other products that they integrate with. For that reason, we typically look at the performance of products in the context of a total solution, rather than measuring its performance in isolation.
Global and regional simulation teams
We all use the same simulation tools and tech-niques, but our objectives and approach are very different. When simulation teams evaluate a project, they have a specific system layout and set of conditions that they are trying to validate. Their goal is to verify performance targets, identify bottlenecks and examine the system’s ability to respond to faults and anomalies. In our research, we are mostly interested in trends and look for specific “cause and effect” scenarios.
The importance of “cause and effect” scenarios
“Sensitivity Analysis” in which we examine the sensitivity of a given solution to different vari-ables is one of the typical studies we perform.
These studies are extremely valuable because they help us understand the sweet spot of a given solution and identify specific operating pa-rameters that need special attention.
A simple example is the effect of aisle length and height on the performance of Mini-Load and Multishuttle systems. Below are two simple color-coded charts that show how a system’s
performance changes as we vary the configura-tion of the aisle. We can see that Mini-Load is not sensitive to the height of the aisle, but the Multi-shuttle lift becomes saturated at about 16 levels.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that we shouldn’t build a Multishuttle that is taller than 16 levels, but it is certainly a valuable design consideration.
In one of our recent studies, we looked at the Au-tomated Mixed Case Palletizing system (AMCAP) to see how it behaved as we varied the number of SKUs, order size, product mix, case dimen-sions, family grouping, order visibility, number of aisles, and a host of software strategies.
We actually ended up with over 10,000 distinct simulation runs that generated a sizeable amount of data. Reviewing such a volume of data to find cause and effects can be an overwhelming task. It requires a methodical approach and upfront design of experiments that help isolate the effect of each variable on its own merit.
How customers benefit from our R&D
Our ultimate goal is to deliver the most cost-ef-fective solutions. Part of this comes from helping our R&D team with the data they need to develop effective products and software. The other part comes from providing our regional concepting teams with application design guidelines to help them make smart solution decisions.
As an example, a simple guideline is to include more accumulation conveyor and bigger waves in traditional pick and sort applications to achieve higher pick efficiency. In contrast, data shows that in integrated systems it is best to minimize the dis-tance/conveyor between the Multishuttle and pick-ing/palletizing stations. Such guidelines ultimately help our solution concepting teams deliver more efficient and cost-effective solutions for customers.
THE ROLE OF R&D IN DEVELOPING OPTIMAL SYSTEM SOLUTIONS
Analysis showed that Multishuttles handling two loads outperform other options.
DEMATIC LOGISTICS REVIEW
With an average of 364 Euros per head spent on furniture annually, Germans are amongst the high-est spending furniture buyers in Europe.
Furniture and furnishing stores have developed into massive retail paradises offering an almost unlimited array of products.
Premium providers cater to almost every need of customers, offering kitchen, living room, dining room and bedroom furniture, as well as lamps, carpets, curtains and home interior accessories.
Ostermann
Ostermann is headquartered in North Rhine-West-phalia. Its products range from kitchen, design and brand furniture, to popular flat-pack furniture and all-inclusive baby equipment. An extensive range of accessories and household equipment rounds off the product offering.
The father of the current managers, Manfred and Rolf Ostermann, established a small furniture store in Witten in 1949. Since then, the company has been consistently growing and now operates four retail sites of 377,000 to 538,000 sqft.
Background
In 1991, Ostermann founded one of the most modern and efficient furniture DCs in Europe. Established in Witten, the DC is where all Oster-mann’s retail facilities are supplied with products, in addition to around 150,000 deliveries made di-rectly to individual clients on an annual basis.
The DC has implemented numerous upgrades over the years, but was running out of storage space.
The basic concept of high-rise racks remained the same, however, with the exchange of control and BUS systems and the introduction of a new Ware-house Management System (WMS) in 2007/2008, it was felt that the overall performance could be further improved.
Since the project began until the extension-relat-ed construction works have been launched, over 2.5 million roll-cages were handled with the use of the high-rise racks, explained Oliver Moll, Oster-mann’s General Logistics Manager.
To provide additional space and increase the DC’s throughput capacity, Ostermann has added two additional aisles of high-rise racking with the ca-pacity of 3,744 storage locations, and enlarged the incoming goods receiving area to increase output by 50-60%.
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OSTERMANNNORTH RHINE-WESTPHALIA, GERMANY
FURNISHING EXPANSION FOR OSTERMANN DC
Ostermann is a family business operating furniture stores and kitchen studios in Witten, Haan, Bottrop and Recklinghausen. With ever-growing retail space to service, Ostermann’s distribution center (DC) in Witten faced some major challenges. In order to increase the DC’s capacity by more than 50%, Ostermann entrusted Dematic with a comprehensive DC extension/ modernization project.
Eliminating a bottleneck
The high-rise rack system is mainly used to han-dle all goods ordered by clients and supplied by furniture producers. On an annual basis, the DC handles around 12,000 incoming shipments from suppliers arriving at 25 receiving gates.
In the goods receiving area, all incoming goods – mattresses, chairs, or cabinet parts packed in cardboard boxes – are identified with the use of wireless RF terminals, and then placed and se-cured on roll-cages – called corlettes – in an order-based manner.
Ostermann utilizes two sizes of custom-designed corlettes – one with a base area of 3.75 x 9 ft for large-size cargos weighing over a ton, and the other a half-size corlette with a base area of 3.75 x 4.25 ft for goods weighing up to 0.5 ton.
“Where possible, corlettes are loaded in the goods receiving area according to the one-client/one-corlette principle,” said Mr Moll.
Apart from goods ordered by individual clients, supplies are also delivered and put away in high-rise racks for later distribution to Ostermann’s re-tail centers and other customers.
Goods of this type are stacked in corlettes and brought to the correct “intake” station of the au-tomatic conveyor system.
On the way to the high-rise racks, each corlette must pass through an identification point (i-point) to identify and check the container.
The i-point checks whether the loads are prop-erly distributed in the corlette, that they do not stick out too much, or that they do not exceed the permissible maximum weight.
Originally there was only one storage line fitted with the i-point solution in the pre-storage area. If any corlette was rejected, an employee had to go to this area and attend to the goods personally, or else the corlette had to be retrieved.
In order to eliminate this bottleneck, Dematic un-installed the existing i-point, and fitted an addi-tional storage line with two new i-points covering weight and size checks, and an independent di-verting station directly in the goods receiving area, which was enlarged by 7000 sqft.
Dematic’s Project Manager, Gerhard Eckert, said: “To increase the capacity of the goods receiving area, both workstations have been removed from
DEMATIC LOGISTICS REVIEW 17
FURNITURE/BULKY GOODS DISTRIBUTION AUTOMATED STORAGE & RETRIEVAL SYSTEM
the eastern part of the premises to be replaced by two new integrated i-points.
“Another workstation was removed from the west-ern part of the premises and was replaced with three new stations including integrated i-points and an alignment line with three racks,” he said.
Goods are then transferred to the high-rise rack area via 82 or 92 ft long conveyors extending from the east to the west of the premises via two, in-stead of one rotary table.
Extending existing high-rise racks by two aisles
The existing 12 level four-aisle high-rise racks cre-ated the overall storage space for about 6,400 large corlettes for single racking and 12,800 smaller corlettes for double-deep racking.
In order to make better use of the available stor-age space, the two new aisles have 14 instead of 12 levels, providing 3,744 storage locations for large goods.
In general, there are high-rise racks with four dif-ferent heights. The extended high-rise rack system including the pre-storage area is 344 ft long, 180 ft wide and 128 ft high. The conveyor system on the east side supplies goods to the first two aisles and both new aisles accommodate corlettes supplied via an in-feed conveyor on the west side.
Performance of both new SR-U1500/1 automated storage and retrieval stacker cranes, including en-ergy recovery, is higher than that of the previous systems, with up to 28 double cycles per hour per storage and retrieval system.
A single corlette lifter has been installed at the end of the new infeed line, which transports goods directly to the outgoing goods area, the low-rise warehouse, or dispatch on the upper floor.
Ostermann’s Oskar Moll is very satisfied with the storage capacity of the updated premises: “We are now able to handle as many as 130 inbound and outbound goods movements within one hour. This makes 1,040 goods-in and goods-out opera-tions per single shift,” he said.
“We now have 1170 feet of the new conveyor sys-tems, and 20 hydraulic scissor-type lift tables for lifting corlettes onto the transfer stations. We also have installed two corlette lifters and brought the new automated storage and retrieval systems in both new aisles into service,” added Dematic’s Gerhard Eckert.
There have been also modifications and interfaces in the material-flow, control and visualization soft-ware.
The new conveyor system is quieter as the drives are fitted with frequency inverters to provide for slower run-up and run-down of the corlettes dur-ing braking and accelerating on ramps.
“There is also much less noise from mechanical impact,” said Mr Eckert.
DEMATIC LOGISTICS REVIEW18
OSTERMANNNORTH RHINE-WESTPHALIA, GERMANY
FURNITURE/BULKY GOODS DISTRIBUTION AUTOMATED STORAGE & RETRIEVAL SYSTEM
Ostermann’s 1.3 million sqft logistics center in Witten accommodates 25,000 corlettes (roll-cages). More than 180,000 products are available, with over 1,000 inbound and outbound goods handled daily.
As the noise levels exceeded admissible limits for the adjacent office premises, the conveyor line linked with the low-rise warehouse has not only been renovated, but also relocated to a different area.
500 supplies to customers on a daily basis
Retrieval of next-day deliveries starts in the morn-ing and finishes around 2pm. Put-away of incom-ing goods takes place until around 7pm, mainly in the afternoon.
With customer-specific loading, the majority of corlettes required for orders can be transferred directly from the high-rise racks into the outgoing goods area, without any intermediate stage in the order-picking area.
If any goods need to be picked from a corlette within the high-rise racks, it will be supplied via conveyor on the upper floor directly to the order picking system, which extends to the eastern side of the goods receiving area.
This is where corlettes are transferred on carriages to four multifunctional workstations, each fitted with five buffer storage areas.
After order picking is completed, corlettes are redirected back to the high-rise racks, and the remaining corlettes, once all ordered goods are unloaded, are supplied to the high-rise racks or the low-rise warehouse.
Once an order is assigned to a specific delivery run, all goods are transported from the appropri-ate pick-up box to one of 100 dispatch gates ar-ranged all around the building.
Restructuring during ongoing operation
A real challenge for Dematic was to carry out all restructuring works during ongoing operation of the DC.
“A lot of operations and test runs had to be per-formed at weekends. Moreover, we had to be very attentive throughout the whole project in order not to interfere with the handling of incoming goods,” said Dematic’s Gerhard Eckert.
Oskar Moll is very satisfied with the upgraded sys-tems: “It was a very good decision to once again rely on Dematic to address all the existing inter-face issues and problems we have experienced.
“On average, we can now handle deliveries to as many as 500 clients per day,” he said.
“
“
It was a very good decision to once
again rely on Dematic to address all the existing interface
issues and problems we have experienced.
Oskar Moll, General Logistics
Manager, Ostermann
DEMATIC LOGISTICS REVIEW 19
KMART AUSTRALIAMELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Background
When he joined the discount variety retailer about five years ago, Kmart Managing Director Guy Russo set about transforming the business, with the goal of achieving the lowest end-to-end cost
– thinking which now extends throughout Kmart, and informs customers of Kmart’s new ‘lower prices every day’ sales strategy.
Kmart’s successful transformation project has in-volved a complete overhaul of the retailer’s prod-uct sourcing and supply chain processes.
KMART CROSS-DOCKING ITS WAY TO SUCCESS
With over 180 stores throughout Australia and New Zealand, product sourcing offices in Hong Kong, China, Bangladesh and India, and more than 31,000 team members, Kmart is one of ANZ’s largest retailers.
Over the past five years, Kmart has implemented one of the most wide-ranging business and supply chain restructuring programs in Australasian retail history.
RETAIL DISTRIBUTION CROSS DOCKING
KMART AUSTRALIAMELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
DEMATIC LOGISTICS REVIEW20
KMART AUSTRALIAMELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Above: Goods being inducted onto Kmart’s crossbelt sorting system, which is capable of cross-docking 6000+ items/hour.
Left: Packages being automatically sorted to their dispatch lanes.
Cross-docking its way to supply chain success
A key enabler in Kmart’s supply chain is its cross-docking DC network, which utilizes Dematic crossbelt sorting systems to automatically trans-fer high volumes of bulk stock to individual orders.
Kmart’s first crossbelt sorting system was in-stalled in Melbourne in 1994, with further systems added in Sydney in 1998 and Brisbane in 2006.
When the decision was taken to consolidate the retailer’s Melbourne distribution operations in 2010, Kmart, in conjunction with Dematic, re-viewed a range of system solutions, with detailed analysis showing that crossbelt sorting was still the best fit for Kmart’s needs over the next de-cade and beyond.
Dematic’s Retail Industry Group Manager, Glenn Barnes, said: “The previous crossbelt sorting sys-tems, which were originally implemented for the Coles Myer group, provided consistent, reliable performance for Kmart over the past decade.”
“When we looked at Kmart’s current and projected requirements over the next 15 years, we evalu-ated a range of technology solutions, but the one that kept on coming out on top of the list was the crossbelt sorter.
“Of course, technology, controls, software and IT systems have changed a lot over the past decade, and these have further enhanced the performance and reliability of crossbelt sorting systems,” add-ed Mr Barnes.
“The crossbelt sorters also offer larger carriages enabling a larger, heavier and more diverse range of products to be handled,” he said.
Highlights of Kmart Australia’s supply chain transformation program
• A new sales strategy based on ‘lower prices every day’ rather than the traditional ‘weekly specials catalogue’
• Introducing a lean supply chain strategy, which has delivered significant supply chain cost savings
• Over 580 factories engaged with Kmart’s ethical sourcing program, representing more than 70% of direct importer spending
• Improved shipping consolidation for better transport efficiencies
• Standardized shipping carton sizes for distribution efficiencies
• Better pick and pack methods in DCs for efficient store put-away
DEMATIC LOGISTICS REVIEW
Kmart Truganina, Melbourne
Kmart’s 800,000 sqft DC and container park at Truganina in Melbourne’s western suburbs, servic-es the apparel and general merchandise distribu-tion requirements for stores in Victoria, Northern Territory, Tasmania and South Australia, as well as New Zealand. The high volume DC, which opened three years ago, enabled Kmart to consolidate general merchandize distribution from its previous Hoppers Crossing, Laverton and Woodlands DCs under the one roof, providing significant cost and operational efficiencies.
Fast, accurate cross-docking w/crossbelt sorting
The Truganina DC is fitted with Kmart’s largest crossbelt cross-docking system. Capable of sort-ing more than 6,000 items per hour to individual orders for up to 88 stores concurrently, the sys-tem comprises 273 individual carriages, each equipped with their own conveyor belt, enabling them to handle and sort a diverse range of prod-uct types and sizes.
Goods up to 3.5 ft long and weighing up to 66 lb are loaded onto four inducts, where they are accu-mulated and conveyed onto the crossbelt sorter.
The carriages travel around a 850 ft long loop at speeds of up to 6.5 ft per sec, automatically sort-ing packages to 88 sort lanes, facilitating efficient cross-docking and store order assembly.
Kmart uses the system to sort imported and lo-cally supplied products, both SSCC and non-SS-CC labelled, and even uses it to automatically sort batch-picked ‘Pick & Pack’ products to individual orders, improving picking costs and accuracy.
When the label is scanned, Dematic’s SortDirector software identifies which store and sortation lane the package is destined for, tracks it until it reach-es the relevant lane for the store, diverts it for or-der consolidation and reports to Kmart’s host that the package has been successfully sorted.
RETAIL DISTRIBUTION CROSS DOCKING
21
Key features of Dematic crossbelt sorters
A key feature of Dematic crossbelt sorters com-pared to other types of sorting systems is their ability to handle a wide variety of goods from a single packet of socks up to large packages weighing up to 66 lb.
Dematic crossbelt sorters transport goods safely, accurately and gently to their destinations, regard-less of their shape, size and surface. Because they can deliver products to a particular destina-tion with pinpoint accuracy, divert points can be concentrated at close intervals making them very space efficient, saving valuable floor space.
Crossbelt sorters can negotiate turns, inclines and declines, utilize carriers multiple times per circuit, and be easily expanded with additional induction points and sort lanes with minimum disruption to an existing operation.
They also feature a higher level of redundancy, without the same single critical points of failure as a linear system.
Crossbelt sorters can handle a wide variety of parcel sizes and shapes from small items to bulky general merchandize, and, because each carrier in a crossbelt sorter has a dynamically controlled motorized belt conveyor, they can offload parcels with a high level of precision.
Bi-directional double-deck crossbelt sorting sys-tems are also available with throughput rates of up to 20,000 items per hour, while quad-belt cross-belt sorters can handle up to four separate items per carrier, raising throughput levels to more than 50,000 items an hour.
Award-winning performance by Kmart Australia
Kmart was presented with the Storage & Handling of Materials Award at the recent Australian Sup-ply Chain and Logistics Awards in recognition of the success of its wide-ranging supply chain and logistics restructuring program.
Kmart’s Sam Weeks, David Kirton and Noel Harb with Dematic’s John Briscoe at the recent Australian Supply Chain and Logistics Awards.
“
“
When we looked at Kmart’s current
and projected requirements over the next 15 years, we
evaluated a range of technology
solutions, but the one that kept on
coming out on top of the list was the crossbelt sorter.
Glenn Barnes, Retail Industry Group
Manager, Dematic ANZ
DEMATIC LOGISTICS REVIEW22
DEMATICNORTH AMERICA
Dematic case picking solution
The Beverage Pick System uses configurable software that can be tailored to accommodate the variations of each beverage distributor.
Operators are equipped with a wearable voice computer, which provides verbal instructions in-cluding description and pick quantity.
A scanner connected to the device ensures the accuracy of each pick.
This solution is paperless. And with no pick list, the operator’s hands are free to pick while their eyes are focused on the task of picking and op-erating a fork truck safely.
Each distributor’s business model and case vol-umes determines the system’s operating mode.
Larger operations may operate a layer pick line, and then pass partial pallets for ‘top off’ in oth-er areas. Direct picking, checking, labeling and loading by a single operator ensures minimal touch order processing and minimizes staging, freeing up valuable floor space.
Operational description
The operator starts the process by requesting an assignment. Information is provided about the route, SKU count, or customer name.
When the operator says ‘Ready’ the system provides the first product description in the pick sequence. The product description is used be-cause the location in the warehouse may vary.
DEMATIC CASE PICKING SOLUTION FOR BEVERAGE DISTRIBUTORS
You wouldn’t think that a business with fewer than 1,000 SKUs could be that complex.But beverage distribution is different. Often there is no location scheme in the warehouse. Distributors routinely experience over 20% annual SKU growth. There are complicated sales and delivery laws, multiple market channels and rigid licensing and accounting rules. That’s why beverage distributors that want to operate effectively are implementing the Dematic Beverage Pick System – a voice-directed solution which controls all operations from picking to checking to loading.
DEMATIC LOGISTICS REVIEW 23
VOICE-DIRECTED ORDER PICKING BEVERAGE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM
DEMATIC CASE PICKING SOLUTION FOR BEVERAGE DISTRIBUTORS
When the operator arrives at the first pick, the barcode on the item is scanned.
A correct scan gives the pick quantity, while an incorrect scan prompts ‘try again” and repeats the description.
The operator verbally confirms the pick quantity.
This process is repeated until all the picks for the active pallet are done. When the pallet is com-plete, the system prompts the operator for a total case count on the pallet.
If the count is correct, it prints a manifest label. An incorrect count sends the pallet to audit.
At the printer, the operator scans the label to confirm it is the correct label.
Each pallet is wrapped prior to loading to ensure load integrity while on the truck. As a final step, the label on the pallet is scanned to confirm it is loaded onto the appropriate route truck.
Operating the system
Specially developed Dematic software manages, directs and monitors the entire system.
It can be configured for tablet computers and mobile devices, so supervisors can manage more effectively from the warehouse floor.
Operational statistics are available regarding over-all system pick rates, pick rates by operator, per-centage of orders complete, route complete, etc.
These reports can be shared via a web app or exported to an Excel worksheet.
Complete solution for the warehouse
The Dematic Beverage Pick System supports multiple functions and tasks in addition to order consolidation.
This voice-directed solution is utilized to receive product for cross-docking or replenishment to a pick face.
Quality check and cycle counting tasks are in-cluded as voice-directed activities.
Furthermore, voice-directed label printing and shipping door loading tasks make this system a complete solution for the beverage warehouse.
Software screens support operational flexibility
The system software directs the activity in the warehouse. Supervisors can monitor and adjust system parameters by using the interface screens.
Here are a few examples of the software screens:
Prioritize Routes: Routes are entered and as-signed a pick sequence as well as a pick team.
Maintain SKUs: Maintenance table allows pho-netic descriptions of all items to be maintained. Picking is directed by voice, based on the de-scription entered.
Audit Settings: Supervisor decides by route, op-erator, or customer, percentage of orders staged for quality audit.
Work Location: The global system overview dis-plays line by line the current work in each zone, as well as providing drill down capability into specific work assignments.
Route Fill Status: As routes are in the process of being picked, the route status screen displays the current percent complete of the route. The label status of each pallet in the route can also be monitored and label re-prints generated.
Outstanding Shorts: Pallet contents as well as the disposition of any shorted pallet picked during the day can be viewed through the shorts screen.
Add SKUs: Supports unlimited additions of SKUs and locations by local site staff.
Picker Performance Reports, Utilization: View the percentage utilization of each picker.
Picker Performance Reports, Summary: Dis-plays cumulative time spent in all activities as pallet, unit and item statistics by operator.
Warehouse Summary Reports: For a given day or time view, the warehouse summary report dis-plays cumulative time spent in all activities as pallet, unit, and item statistics.
QC Summary: For a day or time view, the QC summary displays cumulative counts for all QC categories as well as QC performance statistics.
Label Printing
Voice-Directed Label Printing: Internal routing labels are used for partial pallet staging and retrieval. Shipping labels are printed for pallets ready for trailer loading.
Bill of Lading: Once a route is finalized a Bill of Lading can be printed including name and address, delivery date, order number, ship to information, customer number and route certifier’s name.
DEMATIC LOGISTICS REVIEW
www.dematic.com
Dematic HeadquartersDematic Group S.à r.l. 2-8, avenue Charles de GaulleL-1653 LuxembourgT +352 27 48 59F +352 27 48 59-99
Additional ContactsFor more local offices, service locations and partners in Finland, Israel, Poland and South Africa please refer to www.dematic.com/europe
