When specialist cutting tools supplier, Ceratizit, decided to switch from a purely manual operation at its distribution centre in Germany to an automated one, the company turned to KNAPP for a state-of-the-art solution.

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World market leader in certain industrial sectors for hard material tools, Ceratizit manufactures its wide range of cutting, milling and stamping products at no less than 19 production sites worldwide. Planned growth led Ceratizit’s management to rethink logistics at its distribution centre (DC) in Kempten, southern Germany, which supplies customers throughout Europe with various tools on next-day delivery. The main challenge was to design a system with sufficient capacity for the future; by exploiting its latest warehouse automation technologies, KNAPP was able to provide an enormous expansion in storage capacity compared to the previous system. The design and installation period for this project was surprisingly short at just one year, with installation carried out during ongoing operation of the DC.

Goods-to-person solution

The heart of the solution is an OSR Shuttle™ system – featuring three aisles and 21 levels – that provides a highly space-efficient goods-to-person storage and picking solution. It offers 15,000 storage locations, with the facility to divide the containers into sections meaning that the quantity of locations can increase to 45,000. The automatic store serves ergonomically designed Pick-it-Easy workstations, virtually eliminating the need for walking and thereby increasing performance. Each of the three aisles has two powerful lifts that function independently of each other. With horizontal and vertical transport being decoupled by the shuttles and lifts, maximum availability and optimal throughput are guaranteed, whatever the order structure.

Pick-to-light technology

Goods required for customer orders are automatically retrieved by the OSR Shuttle™ and conveyed to one of the four pick stations, where the picker is guided by pick-to-light displays to select the correct number of items. Smaller orders are picked directly to ‘Sort & Pack’ racks that are integrated into the workstation and packed for dispatch, with documents and shipping labels being generated automatically.

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Controls upgraded

The Kempten DC’s control system was upgraded to KNAPP’s KiSoft WCS (Warehouse Control System) – which was customized to meet Ceratizit’s requirements and which is also the interface to the company’s SAP system – and PLC, making it possible to control all components centrally.

Photos © Ceratizit

KNAPP

Tel: 01844 202149

Email: sales.uk@knapp.com

www.knapp.com

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