Sustainable investment for dynamic growth
As general contractor for the global merchandising wholesaler heo, AM Logistic Solutions is implementing a fully automated dispatch warehouse by May 2021. An automated AutoStore small parts warehouse will be at the heart of the sustainably planned facility with a large growth reserve.
Herxheim/Offenau, 3 December 2020 – heo is investing an amount in the low double-digit million range at its headquarters in Herxheim, Rhineland-Palatinate, in the construction of a logistics center as the first construction phase of its new campus site. With this system, the wholesaler is pursuing the goal of offering its customers worldwide a fast and efficient service. In addition to highly efficient processes, the design of the logistics center focused on sustainability and the best possible working conditions for all heo employees. Among other things, the new building complex is equipped with underfloor heating throughout and all workplaces have visual contact with the surrounding green areas. In addition, the system technology is designed to support employees wherever they have to lift or pull items by means of height compensation or automatic conveying. With ergonomically equipped workstations, heo aims to make an important contribution to the long-term health and performance of its employees. In addition, the risk of accidents is significantly reduced by reducing the physical movement of materials with industrial trucks and pallet trucks. With these measures, heo is following the philosophy that a pleasant working atmosphere and satisfied employee headquarters are success factors for good customer service and thus long-term customer loyalty.
Fully automated small parts warehouse improves picking performance
This alignment is made possible by the high efficiency of the automated small parts warehouse, which will replace several decentralized locations. With a covered area of around 15,000 square meters, it offers 5,500 pallet spaces and room for a total of 20,000 items. A large proportion of these are AutoStore-compatible small parts, which will be stored in around 100,000 bins in future. For order picking, the system with 68 robots is designed for a throughput of 1200 bins per hour. However, expansion options are already prepared from day one.
AM Logistic Solutions acts as a system integrator
The largely automated warehouse is being built by general contractor AM Logistic Solutions, which won a Germany-wide tender. In addition to the economic key points of the offer, heo was particularly impressed by the approach at eye level and the corporate philosophy of the system provider. heo was supported by the intralogistics consultants TKS from Esslingen in designing the warehouse and selecting the system manufacturer.
“As an integrator, we not only supply the automated small parts warehouse, but also the complete software with warehouse management system (WMS), material flow system (MFR) and programmable logic controller (PLC) in addition to an additional shuttle system with 16 rack levels and the entire conveyor technology”
explains AM Sales Manager Saverio Carella. Twelve carousel ports are provided for incoming goods. In order picking, the bins are provided by eight conveyor ports. In addition, there will be three more workstations for large-volume goods in the future. In the incoming goods area, a disposal conveyor is also connected to a cardboard press. In this configuration, the new location enables heo logistics processes that also allow entry into the online B2C business. At the same time, this involves a level of complexity that heo logistics manager Michael Nauerth believes would be difficult for external service providers to handle:
“Controlling the logistics ourselves also means that we can keep customer service completely in our own hands.”
