So that all the machines can be loaded without waiting, Thomann in Hergatz at Lindau is using a honeycomb storage system from Friedrich Remmert GmbH. A special picking station increases the picking speed by more than 60 percent with an average of 120 –130 picks currently made per day from the extensive warehouse which contains 1,200 cassettes. Thomann produces about 200,000 blanks per year. If Thomann procures more CNC machines in the future, the current performance will be easily increased with the existing honeycomb storage system. “Because of the upturn in the steel industry, we put a new hall into operation at Hergatz in 2009. In the new warehouse today, six times as many items are stocked as in the old sawing centre on the Lindau site, and the tonnage is correspondingly high,” said Rolf Thomann, Managing Director of Thomann GmbH. The new Hergatz site for the traditional company with its 90 employees not only cuts the materials to size for its customers but also stores and transports the steel and procures the consumables (C-parts management). “Our corporate structure gives us the advantage of being able to stockpile all the materials needed by the customer. We therefore function as an extended workbench for the customer in the best sense,” said Rolf Thomann. As a full-service provider, the company stocks more than 1,000 varieties of long goods for its customers.