”In the past, we mostly stored our sheet metal in stacker-operated steel racking,“ reports Frank Schlicker, Managing Director of Hase GmbH. ”The material had to be commissioned by our staff prior to order processing and temporarily stored in the storage tower of our tower bystronic laser.“ Although this solution ensured good machine utilisation for the sheet metal processing specialist, the material handling was very time-consuming and required a lot of manpower and space.
Task
For this reason, Hase planned to integrate a new, larger automation system, which would attach to three laser machines in a fully automated way with sheets of metal. At the same time the system was to ensure an optimal material flow for raw material, semi-finished items and leftover metal. Finally the Trier company intended to create a manual three shift operation by investing in all requirements. ”Remmert’s overall package of technical and planning expertise, in-house production in Germany and their extensive range of services made it easy to decide,“ says Frank Schlicker, explaining his choice of supplier.
Solution
The fully automatic sheet metal storage system consists of two parallel rows of racks with a storage and retrieval machine operating in between. Hase now has a storage capacity of more than 1,600 tonnes of sheet metal on 542 pallets. The storage stations are located on the front of the system with the three bystronic machines set up on the right and left. Remmert installed the lasers and their software on the system along with a comprehensive processing cell and its software.
The warehouse management system passes on all the relevant inventory data to the self-programming system materials management system. The logistics software also communicates with the three laser machines – when a new order comes in, the laser requests the required material from the storage system via this data interface. The system passes on the required blanks to the relevant machine, weighs the residual material and then returns it to the warehouse. The logistics software also communicates with the three laser machines. If a new tasks comes up for processing, the machine requests material from the warehouse via a data interface. The system passes on the required sheets of metal, the remaining material is then weighed and returned to storage.
In order intercept order peaks, Hase also lasers any parts, which are not processed immediately. These are stored in the system again by the Trier company after the laser process. The individual semi-finished materials are separated with PVC sheets in order to store several layers of processed material on a pallet without causing damage. The PVC sheets are ready for use in the sheet metal storage system and are automatically placed on the semi-finished goods. Hase supplies the processed parts to the other processes via two separate retrieval stations.
Result
The Remmert system takes up just 192 m2. This has reduced the space required for sheet metal storage by more than 60%. And the goods turnover has seen significant increases too. ”By using our new sheet metal processing cell, we have increased the throughput by at least 50%. And this has been achieved with significantly reduced staffing levels in the warehouse,“ explains Frank Schlicker. Further results of storage integration are permanent current inventories, a significantly reduced output and load but not least future-proofness due to a modular system.
Remmert sheet metal storage system at Hase GmbH
- Storage size: 31 m x 6.2 m x 7.2 m (L x W x H)
- Storage volume: 542 pallets at 3 tonnes load capacity
- 1 storage retrieval machine with electro-mechanical weigher - lifting and pulling speed: 32 m/min
- 5 removal stations:
- Direct connection to 3 bystronic lasers
- Remmert storage software PRO WMS Enterprise
