Long goods storage saves 30,000 litres of diesel per year

PBS Pulverbeschichtung Schreiner is a pioneer in production-integrated environmental protection and proves that efficiency and sustainability are not contradictory priorities. With a new honeycomb warehouse solution from Remmert, the service provider has improved its carbon footprint by a further 500 tonnes of CO2 per year and quadrupled its consignment warehouse capacities along the way.

PBS is a service provider in the field of surface finishing. The company coats steel and aluminium profiles with powder coatings on behalf of customers, and thus serves customers in the construction and window industry, logistics and mechanical engineering. “For example, we powder coat the box bodies you see on the yellow postal trucks” reports Managing Director Harald Schreiner. He has not only established his company as a specialist for powder coating, but also sees himself as an all-round service provider with at present 180 employees. “We carry out all in-process services such as sawing, milling and drilling. In addition, we have several modern profile compound plants in operation. With this new high-bay warehouse, we have also significantly increased our consignment storage capacities” Schreiner explains, summarising the services on offer.  

Production & logistics grow together 

Previously, the storage areas for customer material were spread across several halls on the company premises, which cover more than 80,000 m². On-floor storage and transport with forklift trucks was not only very time-consuming and labour-intensive, but also repeatedly resulted in damage to the goods due to manual handling with the forklift truck. In order to increase productivity, Schreiner wanted to integrate internal logistics and production more closely, and automate them as far as possible. Furthermore, storage capacity was also to be greatly increased.  

The diesel consumption of the forklift fleet was also seen as a thorn in Schreiner’s side. The company is considered a pioneer of ecological processes. “We were the first finisher in Germany to use chrome-free pre-treatment, long before it became mandatory,” says Schreiner. In addition, PBS uses only treated rainwater to pre-treat the materials. Since 2013, process heat has been generated with a 2.5 MW biomass heating system. This replaces the annual consumption of roughly 1 million litres of heating oil with renewable raw materials from the region. In addition, the roof surfaces of the operational buildings are covered with a total of 1.7 MW of PV power. 

Remmert honeycomb storage solution replaces 30,000 litres of diesel per year 

PBS has built the new Remmert long goods warehouse in the direct vicinity of production, thus replacing forklift traffic as far as possible. PBS saves more than 500 tonnes of CO2 emissions (or 30,000 litres of diesel) annually just by eliminating forklift transport. Another benefit is that material damage has been reduced to almost zero, and material flow has been significantly accelerated, which also benefits productivity in powder coating.  

The warehouse – comprising a honeycomb structure – holds over 2,600 long goods cassettes, which corresponds to a fourfold increase in storage capacity. The cassettes are stored and retrieved fully automatically within 90 seconds via a storage and retrieval machine (SRM). The SRM performs forty double cycles per hour, and is also extremely energy-efficient thanks to energy recovery (recuperation). Four buffer and circulation stations for the storage and retrieval of the cassettes with a total of 12 buffer locations for order picking, as well as an integrated WMS (Warehouse Management System) with connection to the MES system, round off the solution. “With Remmert, we have found a partner who operates on an equal footing, and who is a great fit for us. There was plenty of inspiration on hand thanks to different reference projects, and we worked out different potential solutions together. That was just outstanding.” 

Crisis-proof stockpiling in the consignment warehouse 

The Remmert warehouse was gradually integrated into operations at the end of 2021, and thus at exactly the right time, even if the underlying occasion offered less cause for celebration. “Almost all of our customers have taken advantage of the new storage capacities during the current crises, and have significantly increased their stocks in order to remain able to deliver. We would not have been able to offer that with on-floor storage,” says Harald Schreiner, describing the direct effects of the global economic situation on his business. On balance, he sees his company as perfectly positioned for the future with the logistics concept. Production-related logistics have led to a significantly faster, more efficient, smooth and sustainable flow of materials.