Körber Automates New Distribution Center for SARSTEDT

The international technology group Körber supports the medical technology manufacturer SARSTEDT in the construction of the new Distribution Center (DC). The existing logistics center in Nümbrecht, North Rhine-Westphalia, had reached its limits after more than 20 years and is now to be expanded. To be well-equipped for the future in terms of performance and capacity, SARSTEDT plans to include a highly dynamic shuttle storage system and packing robots in the new building to set new standards in throughput and automation. For this, they sought the right technological expertise. Körber has now been awarded the contract to take over the complete intralogistics and will implement SAP EWM to control the entire warehouse, including the shuttle storage and the robots.

(Leingarten/Nümbrecht-Elsenroth) Körber is to ensure optimal processes in the new warehouse with its Supply Chain Automation business unit. SARSTEDT intends to use this for the storage, picking, and shipping of its finished goods and sought companies with suitable technological know-how to make the warehouse future-proof in the long term. Körber will install the intralogistics in Nümbrecht – from pallet and carton conveyor technology to robotic palletizing and depalletizing, as well as shuttle systems, control, visualization, and peripheral devices. The focus is on automated and as autonomous as possible intralogistics processes, for which Körber will also rely on robotic technology. For example, a robot will be used for the automatic palletization of mixed pallets.

Efficient processes are important for SARSTEDT, which should not reach their capacity limits even under heavy load. Körber’s pallet conveyor technology will take over the transport of pallets from the goods receiving area to the high rack. At the same time, shipping pallets from the high rack and from picking will be fed to the shipping buffer with twelve loading gates. A comprehensive and powerful carton conveyor technology connects the individual functional areas and transports the picked cartons to the subsequent destinations. In addition to manual picking in pick tunnels, an automatic layer depalletizing system will also be used. In the future, items with high picking volumes will be depalletized fully automatically with a robotic system. The planned shuttle system serves as an intermediate buffer for customer-specific picked cartons. It will provide a storage capacity of approximately 50,000 cartons with three aisles.

SARSTEDT has selected Körber as the general contractor for intralogistics for this project. The commissioning of the silo rack system and the pallet rack handling devices was directly awarded to other companies but will be integrated by Körber. For the software level, they also rely on Körber, specifically its Supply Chain Consulting business unit. They will equip the new building with a SAP-based logistics solution (SAP EWM and SAP EWM MFS) for warehouse management and material flow control.

Achim Aberle from Körber’s Supply Chain Automation business unit is very pleased with the collaboration: “SARSTEDT is an important partner for whom a smooth, efficient material flow is very important. Therefore, I am very pleased that Körber can pursue this goal together with our customer from the very beginning of the new building to ensure high throughput rates and error-free picking in the future.” Rüdiger Kuhn, Head of Procurement & Logistics at SARSTEDT, adds: “What we want to achieve with our new DC is not just more capacity and flexibility. We want to meet the constantly growing demands with new technologies to be prepared for the future. With Körber, we have found the right technology partner for this.”

Photo: © Körber Supply Chain