Trigema Increases Efficiency with OHRA Shelving

Trigema, Germany’s largest manufacturer of sports and leisurewear, can significantly better supply its production by switching from floor to shelving storage. For this purpose, OHRA installed cantilever and pallet racks, where the fabrics produced in its own knitting mill are temporarily stored before being processed for finishing.

(Kerpen/Burladingen) Grid floors enable the storage of fabrics in different conditions, regardless of format or storage aids. Thanks to the storage in OHRA racks, Trigema was able to increase production efficiency by 5 percent.

From cotton thread to finished T-shirt, Trigema handles the entire textile production in-house. One step in the production process is the so-called “finishing”: this is where the fabric is refined. It goes through various processes. The first stage is pre-treatment in state-of-the-art washing and bleaching facilities. Once the bleaching process is complete, the fabric is dyed in the cold dyeing facility. Finally, it is made shrink-proof using mechanical methods.

Floor Storage Increasingly Seen as a Hindrance

Until now, Trigema stored the fabrics between “production” and “finishing” in a floor storage area. However, with the increasing utilization of the warehouse, accessing individual items proved to be too cumbersome. Additionally, necessary relocations often resulted in damage to the items. The desired storage according to the First-In-First-Out principle (FIFO) could only be realized with significant effort. When higher storage capacities became necessary, Trigema seized the opportunity to fundamentally make the logistics processes in the buffer storage more efficient.

Flexibility Thanks to Grid Floors

The core of the redesign was the transition from floor to shelving storage. Since storage spaces for different fabric qualities in various conditions were needed, Trigema decided to equip the warehouse with both pallet racks and cantilever racks from OHRA. To avoid disrupting production, OHRA installed the racks over a weekend. The pallet racks were partially equipped with chipboard floors and grid floors, while the cantilever racks also received grid floor panels – creating a continuous storage level that accommodates various storage aids (different pallet formats, boxes, or fabrics without storage aids).

Efficiency in Storage

Compared to floor storage, the four racks on the same footprint offer about 60 percent more storage capacity. Since the racks allow direct access to each stored item, the loading and unloading processes are on average 50 percent faster. Additionally, the FIFO principle can be implemented without any issues. Overall, the efficiency of production was increased by 5 percent due to the racks.

Photo: © Ohra