AutoStore® small parts warehouse for IDS Imaging Development Systems in Obersulm
In more than 20 years Imaging Development Systems GmbH has developed from a 2-man company to a worldwide leading manufacturer of digital industrial cameras with about 300 employees. Around 200,000 high-quality cameras "Made in Germany" are developed and manufactured in Obersulm every year. With subsidiaries in the USA, Japan and UK, as well as representative offices in Europe and Asia, IDS is internationally represented. At the headquarters in Obersulm, a fully automated small parts warehouse is being built in an existing warehouse, in which goods receipts or picking can be carried out at any workstation at any time. Hörmann Logistik has taken over the implementation of the innovative small parts warehouse AutoStore® as general contractor.
Concept
For the tailor-made design of the AutoStore® system, Hörmann Logistik carried out several system simulations with real data from IDS during the planning phase. The daily operating times of 10 hours, together with other customer requirements and the simulation results, led to a system configuration with approx. 2,610 containers measuring 649 mm x 449 mm x 220 mm (L x W x H) over 10 levels. The 5 autonomous robots supply and remove the three carousel workstations. One of them is assigned for goods receipt, one for goods issue to production and one for goods issue to shipping. The AutoStore® system consists of an aluminium grid system clad on three sides with overall dimensions of 10.6 m x 11.2 m x 2.4 m (L x W x H), excluding the service platform. In the grid system, stacks of 10 containers each are placed directly on the hall floor. Above the stacks of containers is the rail system (grid) on which the five battery-operated, autonomous robots move and cooperatively pick up and re-sort containers and deliver them to the order picking modules. The maximum total weight of the containers is 35 kg, with a net payload of around 30 kg. An overweight check is carried out at the ports in order to safeguard the maximum weight. The containers can be flexibly subdivided by separating inserts for the use of several articles.
The system is designed for 800 storage and retrieval operations per day. The system is controlled by the HiLIS AS warehouse management and control system, which was specially designed for AutoStore®. AutoStore® "only" knows the tote number in the system, but not the contents. The higher-level WMS HiLIS AS knows the content of each container, takes over the higher-level management and control of the AutoStore® system and implements the logistical processes including the interfaces to the ERP system. The comprehensible, graphical user interface of HiLIS AS provides clear work and picking instructions via touch screen. In addition, HiLIS AS supports permanent inventory processes, empty container insertion, status dialogues, special access to the containers and much more.
The AutoStore® small parts warehouse at IDS in Obersulm was put into operation in May 2019.
