The automation of the process from good to person picking and buffer storage consolidation is making it easier to meet customer demand. Kardex customer Hella is a logistics service provider with long-standing experience in the automotive industry. They ship more than 2,000 orders to global customers every day and found that storing these orders until it was time to ship the stock out took up a lot of space. Traditionally they used a manual processes of loading cartons onto pallets and storing them until needed, but optimisation for leaner processes was required so they investigated ways to increase ergonomics, reduce sort and search times, and minimise walking distances.
They made the decision to purchase a six-meter high Kardex Vertical Buffer Module LR 35 as it was the most efficient and economical solution to meet all their requirements now, whilst enabling future growth. The LR35 is utilised as a consolidation buffer for customer orders awaiting shipment and uses conveyor technology, so they are now able to transport various sized cartons automatically.
Once a truck has arrived, a complete retrieval list for the relevant cartons starts. The cartons are pre-sorted by size and weight and ordered and are delivered via two access openings. Employees scan the cartons and move them onto a pallet. “With the LR 35, we were able to save 80% of storage space and no longer face any capacity restrictions,“ says Raphael Heimann, Project Manager Intralogistics, Hella Distribution GmbH.
To learn more about how the LR35 can manage your order picking and consolidation requirements click here. Or contact Kardex on 01992 557237, email:[email protected]
