AutoStore® small parts warehouse for Huss Licht & Ton (Light and Sound) in Langenau
Since 1989, Huss Licht & Ton GmbH & Co KG has made a name as a reliable partner for innovative event technology. Competence, quality and excellent customer service are the secret of success of the medium-sized, owner-managed company. The online shop www.huss-licht-ton.de offers 24/7 access to more than 400 international brands of event technology with attractive conditions. At the company headquarters in Langenau, Hörmann Logistik is building an AutoStore® system for the storage of small parts in a new warehouse. The workstations will be equipped for goods receipts or picking at any time.
Concept
For the customised design of the AutoStore® system, Hörmann Logistik performed, during the planning phase, several system simulations with real data from Huss Light & Ton. The daily operating times of 8 hours, together with other customer requirements and the simulation results, led to a system configuration with approx. 7,200 bins measuring 649 mm x 449 mm x 330 mm (L x W x H) on 16 levels. The system initially comprises around 5,000 bins and allows for additions at any time.
4 autonomous robots serve for the supply and disposal of two Carousel workstations. A third Carousel port is planned for expansion later.
The AutoStore® system consists of an aluminium grid system covered on three sides with a total size of 8.8 m x 24.8 m x 5.4 m (L x W x H), excluding the service platform.
Within the grid, stacks of 16 bins each stand directly on the hall floor. The battery-powered, autonomous robots move on the grid rail system above the bin stacks. They pick up the bins, re-sort them as required and serve them at the carousel ports.
The maximum total weight of the bins is 35 kg with a net payload of around 30 kg. A weighing unit at the ports prevents exceeding the maximum weight. Separating inserts in the bins allow flexible use for several articles at the same time.
Four pairs of wheels move the robots in two directions. Their geometry allows them to reach any position in the grid. They communicate via WLAN with the AutoStore control system, which assigns the transport orders to the individual robots. If the order load is low or the battery capacity is too low, the robots drive automatically to one of the charging stations located at the edge of the grid. The AutoStore control is located on the adjacent service platform.
The robots move on the grid with an acceleration of 0.8 m/s² and a speed of 3.1 m/s.
The system is suitable for 800 storage and retrieval operations per day.
AutoStore® takes over complete picking orders (task group) with all individual picking positions (task). With a lead-time of 30 minutes, AutoStore® with its integrated optimization algorithms ensures maximum efficiency in the processing of orders. Approximately 4% of the orders at Huss Licht & Ton are quick orders for immediate processing.
Installation of the AutoStore® small parts warehouse at Huss Licht & Ton starts in June 2019 with commissioning scheduled for August 2019.
