AutoStore® warehouse at chipper and mechanical engineering specialist ALBACH
The family-owned company ALBACH Maschinenbau AG from Menning in Upper Bavaria specializes worldwide in the construction of chippers as well as complex special designs in mechanical engineering. In the self-propelled chipper segment, the company is the market leader with around 220 employees. At the production site in Langquaid, HÖRMANN Intralogistics is setting up an AutoStore® system for the storage of small components in an existing warehouse.
Concept
For the customized design of the AutoStore® system, HÖRMANN Intralogistics carried out several plant simulations with real data during the planning phase. The required operating times of 8 hours per day, together with the other customer requirements and the simulation results, led to a system configuration with a capacity of 8,725 totes of size 649 mm x 449 mm x 220 mm (L x W x H).
The 7 autonomous, battery-powered robots move in two directions through their four pairs of wheels arranged at an angle to reach any position in the grid. They communicate via WLAN with the AutoStore® controller, which assigns the transport orders. When the order load is low or the battery capacity is too low, the robots drive themselves to one of the 7 charging stations located at the edge of the grid.
Tirelessly, the robots load and unload the 3 carousel ports located on the grid. All port workstations are equipped in such a way that goods receipt or picking can be carried out there at any time.
The AutoStore® system is erected in an existing warehouse. The partially clad aluminum grid system has overall dimensions of 12.1 m x 12.6 m x 6.5 m (L x W x H), including the service platform. In the grid system, the stacks of 24 containers each stand directly on the hall floor. The track system is mounted above the tote stacks, on which the robots move and cooperatively pick up, rearrange and serve totes to the picking modules (ports).
The AutoStore® system at ALBACH serves around 137 storage and 880 retrieval operations per day.
For picking items, AutoStore® can be given complete pick orders with the individual pick items. With a lead time of 30 minutes, AutoStore® with its integrated optimization algorithms ensures maximum effectiveness in processing orders.
Maximum performance and availability with the WMS HiLIS AS
The AutoStore® control system autonomously executes the transport orders for all robots, but does not know the contents of the containers. For this purpose, HÖRMANN Intralogistics has developed the higher-level warehouse management system HiLIS AS. This is tailored to the requirements of AutoStore® and is directly connected to the customer's HOST systems. HiLIS AS also controls the put-to-light picking orders and the container management via the transfer cells. With the HiLIS AS visualization, all system data and functions can be called up clearly at any time.
The AutoStore® small parts warehouse at ALBACH is scheduled to go into operation in March 2023.
