Commissioning of the new logistics area

True to the company slogan, “Keep on moving …“, the company has developed constantly and, also seen from the outside, clearly increased in size. With the commissioning of the small-parts and high-bay warehouses and with the move into the new, larger administration building, a further milestone has been set.

The administration building, to which 2 extra storeys have been added and which provides working space for a further 70 employees, has now been occupied. All workplaces are equipped with the most modern office equipment to further optimise working conditions for the staff.

The largest proportion of the expansion project is taken up by the extension of the logistics area. In addition to the logistics office, the small-parts warehouse is located on 4 floors. It is now completely fitted out and provides approximately 17,000 linear metres of shelving which, compared to earlier, represents a doubling of storage space.

Directly adjoining the small-parts warehouse is the new high-bay warehouse, rising to a height of 18.5 metres. 5,000 pallets from the outside warehouses have been relocated here. With a capacity of around 7,000 pallet spaces, the storage area has more than doubled, so the company headquarters in Germany now has more than 13,000 pallet spaces available.

In order to achieve optimal transportation of the goods to the storage locations, a sophisticated, 250 metre long conveyor system with pallet and container lifters is employed in the new logistics facility. The inductively controlled narrow-aisle warehouse enables an optimal use of space for efficient logistic which is adaptable to meet requirements.

The logistics fleet has already been expanded to include 10 new, advanced materials handling vehicles. The purchase of further materials handling vehicles, as well as purpose-built order picking trolleys for the expansion of multi-order picking is planned for the coming year.

The internal barcode system has been expanded to cover a total of 30,000 storage locations. Together with the comprehensive optimization of the warehouse administration system, the turnaround time for orders should thus be shortened and packing errors avoided.

The creation of 14 new express despatch jobs will ensure faster and particularly flexible order processing in the future. A new loading ramp facility and double the number of loading gates enables faster loading of customer shipments, which is a great advantage, especially at peak times.

In the following construction phases the outside area will be completed and secured by new fences and barriers. The inside of the old office building will be rebuilt and, in addition to offices, will be provided with a new visitors’ area. The completion of the entire expansion project is expected by the end of spring next year.