Paul VAHLE commissions fully automated honeycomb warehouse from Fehr

The new logistics facility of Paul Vahle GmbH & Co. is a core component of the new manufacturing concept at the Kamen site. The supplier of the facility is the Swiss company fehr Lagerlogistik AG. The new modern logistics solution offers space for long goods up to 6.4 meters in 330 honeycombs. The honeycomb warehouse will also serve Vahle as a showroom in the future.

(Kamen) Paul Vahle GmbH & Co. KG has modernized production and intralogistics at its Kamen headquarters. With the installation of a honeycomb warehouse from the Swiss company fehr Lagerlogistik AG, the system provider for mobile industrial applications is fundamentally restructuring its manufacturing concept. The flexible honeycomb system stores goods with a length of over six meters and a weight of up to three tons per exchange cassette in the 330 honeycombs. The optimized material flow is facilitated by an automatic single-table storage retrieval device directly to the assembly stations. All components for energy and data transmission as well as positioning were supplied by VAHLE itself.

Innovative manufacturing location

“This innovative manufacturing location is a testament to VAHLE’s capabilities. This allows us to better meet the individual wishes and requirements of our customers,” explains Henning Stelte, Head of Operations at Paul Vahle GmbH & Co. KG, regarding the restructuring at the Kamen headquarters. After commissioning the automatic small parts warehouse last year, the company has now invested a seven-figure sum in the new long goods honeycomb warehouse. “With the implemented LEAN concept, we are digitizing, networking, and streamlining our processes, thus making our material flow and the goods streams to our customers more efficient,” says Stelte. The system from fehr Lagerlogistik AG features 330 storage locations with a honeycomb length of up to 6.4 meters, where up to three tons can be stored in each. The heart of the system is the automatic storage retrieval device (RBG), which brings the goods to their respective honeycomb at speeds of up to 120 meters per minute after they have been stored. As soon as an employee requests manufacturing material, the RBG retrieves the entire storage cassette and transports it to the assembly station. The required quantity is taken out before the goods rack is returned to its storage location. The fully automated order-based control is achieved through the connection to VAHLE’s ERP system. Holger von der Heyde, responsible project manager and in charge of Kaizen and process improvement at VAHLE, outlines the benefits: “This streamlines our work processes and increases material availability in production. Following the principle of ‘Material to Person’, employees can focus on purely value-adding steps.”

Integration into existing infrastructure

To integrate the new facility into the existing infrastructure, extensive foundation work was carried out in the existing 2,500 square meter production hall, and a technically sustainable infrastructure was installed. Innovative operating resources, including robot-assisted production lines, enable efficient material flow. “Additionally, the system increases workplace safety in the hall, as additional forklift and crane trips are largely eliminated,” says the project manager. The hall floor is also color-coded to clearly distinguish transport routes from production areas. Goods delivery takes place via a newly constructed extension of around 100 square meters. “This concentrates the handling of long goods in just one area and alleviates the activities on the operating site,” explains von der Heyde.

Energy supply through own Vahle products

Energy and data transmission as well as absolute positioning throughout the honeycomb warehouse are carried out using in-house VAHLE products. It is powered by the sliding conductor rail VKS10, which also houses the sliding positioning system APOS Magnetic, ensuring millimeter-accurate positioning of the RBG. The disturbance-resistant communication is facilitated by the integrated vCOM data transmission system SMGM in the HRL profile. This combination, first installed in a honeycomb warehouse, enables entirely new application scenarios for smart logistics solutions, such as the digital networking of various plant components and the implementation of multiple video live streams of different processes. The system provider for mobile industrial applications will therefore also use the honeycomb warehouse as an operational showroom, as VAHLE Managing Director Achim Dries explains: “Our customers can get an impression of the functionality of our products on-site.” The facility is equipped with cameras that transmit live images to a screen in the showroom. In collaboration with fehr, VAHLE sees a promising symbiosis for the development of modern logistics centers at the cutting edge of technology.
Photo: © Vahle
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