The primary goal of the project is to digitize and automate logistics processes in the area of ​​material storage, dispensing into production and registration of work in progress in the newly built automotive parts warehouse of BRANO GROUP in Hradec nad Moravicí.

“The new automated warehouse for the Door Systems (DS) plant will help us maintain high work productivity and maintain our competitiveness in the long-term demanding automotive environment. We decided to cooperate with the selected suppliers, as we were convinced by their successfully realized references. We look at them as respected companies in the field of logistics, "explains Petr Vavrečka, project management manager at BRANO GROUP.

Cooperation with suppliers could easily be described in two steps as the supply of warehouse technologies in the form of roller conveyors, autonomous VZV, automatic depalletization and automatic stackers and their interconnection thanks to the implementation of control software - Warehouse Management System (WMS) and Material Flow Control (MFC). But the reality is a little more complicated. Let's take a closer look at what an automated warehousing system will look like and which specific phases must take place in order for the whole process of the modern concept of internal logistics to work reliably, quickly and flawlessly.

Automated processes with modern warehousing technologies

Receipt of material to the premises will take place either from suppliers, production or by moving from another place - transfer within the plant. After receiving and entering the quality control, the pallets will be stored using a pallet roller conveyor, which will transport them to the entry point for the automated truck (AGV - Automated Guided Vehicle). AGV takes care of handling full pallets to the rack, racking to the depalletizer, transporting a partial pallet back to the rack or handling empty pallets.

A depalletizer is an automatic machine that disassembles pallets and gradually removes individual KLT boxes, which are marked with a bar code on a roller conveyor. From there, the KLT boxes leave on a roller conveyor into the space with two automatic stackers, which place them in the correct position. At the same time, they export the necessary boxes to a conveyor, which transports them to the trains that will take the individual production workplaces.

DCIx as the central brain of automation

Aimtec delivers the DCIx solution, which represents both the classic WMS (Warehouse Management System) and the MFC (Material Flow Control) tool for automated warehouse management.

"DCIx will act as the central brain of the whole project. For example, we will use it to control the number of pallets on the roller conveyor and determine how many are to be removed based on consumption in production. The system will tell the founders in what position they should store the KLT boxes and remove them based on min. and max. value of the stock level in a specific production line, "explains the technical details of Jiří Žižka, Project Manager at Aimtec,

and adds: “In most cases, the robust ThingWorx integration platform from Cleverence will be used to integrate individual systems and technologies into a fully automated warehouse. For example, when depreciating production, it passes information about the manufactured piece to the DCIx system, which can reduce the stock of the respective component. The orchestration inter-platform will also provide DCIx sERP communication with the Helios Green system. ”

Delivery and integration of key technologies

In the BRANO GROUP project, LogTech represents the dominant supplier of key technologies, which include two automatic stackers for three types of KLT with a capacity of approximately 20,000 boxes. It also supplies extensive service roller conveyors approximately 200 m long for loading and unloading KLT boxes from stackers and service roller pallet tracks, including a depalletizing robotic workplace. The delivery includes a workplace for an automatic transit track used for inspection and identification of products.

"We are pleased to be able to support our investment in automation in our automotive industry, in addition to our region," adds Pavel Kraus, CEO of LogTech.

Time milestones

The large-scale project started in March 2021. The sharp operation will begin in March of the following year. Full operation will be preceded by the construction of a new hall, which will be equipped with storage technologies in November. The integration test is scheduled for the beginning of 2022. In the future, the management of BRANO GROUP is considering the introduction of additional automated warehouses in its operations.

Source: // Retrend