Jungheinrich Automates Production Warehouse for ZF in Schweinfurt

Jungheinrich has optimized the existing high-bay warehouse for the globally operating technology company and automotive supplier ZF at the Schweinfurt location: In the future, the entire material flow from the warehouse to production supply will be automated. The intralogistics expert from Hamburg provided a complete solution from a single source, which has now been completed.

(Hamburg/Schweinfurt) 985 storage spaces for mesh boxes, plastic large load carriers, and Euro pallets, distributed across five aisles of 17.7 meters in length with a drop height of 6.25 meters – this was the starting point in ZF’s high-bay warehouse in Schweinfurt. Previously, production parts were brought into the warehouse via a sluice and stored manually. To fully automate this process, including the racking system, narrow aisle storage, and transport from the sluice to the warehouse, Jungheinrich supplied both the racking system with area access control and the conveyor technology.

Triple Control Along the Conveyor Technology

In the future, pallets and boxes will undergo a triple control along the conveyor technology: board clearance, weight, and contour control. After their barcodes are read automatically, they will be transported into the high-bay warehouse by roller conveyors from two sides. There, an EKX 516ka, Jungheinrich’s driverless and automated version of the standard narrow aisle stacker EKX, takes over. It transports the load units to their respective places in the ZF warehouse – around the clock. Rails along the racking supports in the aisles supply the EKX 516ka, which is equipped with a built-in charger, with power. “Thanks to the inductive guidance and the shorter design, the EKX 516ka is very well suited to navigate precisely in this narrow aisle,” adds Susanne Zitzmann, project manager at Jungheinrich.

A notification about the inbound and outbound storage occurs directly and without manual scanning from the forklift to the warehouse management system, further increasing efficiency. Jungheinrich also provides ZF in Schweinfurt with the Warehouse Control System (WCS) featuring an integrated material flow computer.

All-Inclusive Package

“This all-inclusive package was one of the central reasons that convinced us at Jungheinrich,” explain Dominik Hüllmantel, project manager at ZF, and Andre Hofmann, team leader of intralogistics also at ZF, regarding the awarding of the contract to the Hamburg company. “The racking warehouse operated with the EKX 516ka represents an efficient solution for us given the complexity of our processes and the limited space available.”

Photo: © Jungheinrich