BSS NEWS

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  • BSS receives award as Top Supplier RetailBSS receives award as Top Supplier Retail4. March 2024Kaufland honoured with Reta Award for innovation and sustainability in logistics. We are delighted that Kaufland Germany have been honoured with the prestigious Reta Award 2024 for innovation and sustainability in logistics for their outstanding work in automated order picking. At the 17th Reta Award ceremony Kaufland were honoured for the introduction of an automated order picking system (AKA) in their distribution centres, a project in which BSS Bohnenberg GmbH played a key role as a technology service provider. The award pays tribute to our joint efforts to increase efficiency and practicality in order picking, particularly for fruit and vegetables. The solutions we have developed enable largely fully automated picking of typical retail cartons and returnable crates, which not only reduces the workload of employees, but also significantly increases throughput and enhances the reliability and scalability of processes. We are proud to have been rewarded with the Top Supplier Retail award and congratulate the entire Kaufland team. [...]
  • Flowpicker now suitable for use at up to minus 25 degrees CelsiusFlowpicker now suitable for use at up to minus 25 degrees Celsius22. February 2024Ideal for handling frozen products and perishable foods BSS Bohnenberg GmbH presents an update of the successful Flowpicker at the LogiMAT 2024. The fully automatic high-performance picking system can now also process frozen goods at a temperature of up to minus 25 degrees Celsius. The performance demonstrated suggests a range of applications in which speed, freshness and minimal spoilage are at the top of the list of requirements. As the perfect system for the food retail supply chain, Flowpicker achieves record-breaking throughputs of up to 12,000 transport containers per hour in both storage and retrieval. You can experience the Flowpicker live from March 19 to 21, 2024 at the BSS trade fair stand at LogiMAT Stuttgart in Hall 1 Stand 1C50. We look forward to seeing you! [...]
  • LogiMAT 23 – We say THANK YOU and look back on three successful days in Stuttgart / GermanyLogiMAT 23 – We say THANK YOU and look back on three successful days in Stuttgart / Germany11. May 2023See some impressions here:https://vimeo.com/825802188In addition to presenting our intralogistics innovations, we were able to gather many exciting impulses from conversations with our visitors this year. [...]
  • 30 years of BSS – We’re celebrating our anniversary!30 years of BSS – We’re celebrating our anniversary!24. August 20222022 is a very special year for us: We are celebrating our 30th company anniversary! This year we’re taking a look back and showing how we’ve been making history since the early 1990s. On 1 January 1992, Harald Bohnenberg started with the newly founded BSS Bohnenberg GmbH. With just 6 employees, BSS was initially an independent system house for control technology for logistics systems. First scooped was the goods distribution centre for the Metro non-food division ‘Varena’ in Unna. With the founding of the computer technology sector a short time later, BSS rose to become a supplier of warehouse management systems. This was followed by the first BSS system with side shelf picking and double-deep storage. Following the wishes of many customers, BSS began early on not only to implement logistics systems, but also to plan them. The design of intelligent logistics solutions is still a core competence of our company. As a result, BSS received its first order as general planner and contractor in 1995. BSS took over complete conception of the system up to turnkey handover for the picking centre of the company Pelikan in Hanover. Today, 30 years later, BSS Bohnenberg GmbH has established itself as a well-known full-service provider for intralogistics, material flow concepts and construction. In the meantime, more than 150 colleagues work every day for our numerous customers and meet the increasingly demanding requirements. The company is led and managed by the directors Martin Gräb and Vasilios Dossis. We are proud of our achievements since 1992.What makes BSS special?This year we will again and again give you exciting insights into our projects and our everyday life. [...]
  • BSS Bohnenberg at the LogiMAT 2022BSS Bohnenberg at the LogiMAT 20227. February 2022Join us again this year at the International Trade Show for Intralogistics Solutions and Process Management. Expect lectures, podium discussions and innovative trends from the intralogistics industry. ROFA Group, with its companies BSS Bohnenberg GmbH, Dynamic Logistic Systems B.V., MLR System GmbH and ROFA INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION AG, is right in the middle – looking forward to welcome you. Our experts would be delighted to provide you with an insight into our latest products and systems. When? 31 May – 02 June 2022Where? Stuttgart Trade Fair Centre, Hall 1, B51 If you don’t want to wait until end of May, to exchange ideas with us and other intralogistics experts, as a participant of the trade show you have the opportunity to register for LogiMAT.digital free of charge.Get more information: www.logimat.digital. We look forward to seeing you! [...]
  • BSS Bohnenberg GmbH presents innovations & highlights at the LogiMAT Digital 2021BSS Bohnenberg GmbH presents innovations & highlights at the LogiMAT Digital 202111. August 2021Due to the pandemic, LogiMAT, international trade show for intralogistics solutions and process management, can take place again as a face-to-face event in 2022. In the meantime we will stay in touch digitally and present highlights and innovations at the LogiMAT Digital. The interactive platform enables direct dialogue with our BSS intralogistics experts, provides interesting insights into our service and product range and offers inspiring live presentations on the latest intralogistics topics. Join us and register free of charge: https://logimat.digital/for_attendees.html You can expect the following topics on the agenda: Automatic Storage Systems Picking Systems BSS Flowpicker – high performance picking system Warehouse Management & Material Flow Control System Integration & General Contracting [...]
  • Innovative fashion logistics – BSS realizes a shuttle warehouse for Meyer & Meyer in PeineInnovative fashion logistics – BSS realizes a shuttle warehouse for Meyer & Meyer in Peine12. February 2020Meyer & Meyer, the leading international provider of fashion logistics with a long family tradition, offers its customers full support along the entire value chain and sets new, future-oriented standards with a holistic “From Sheep to Shop” approach. This includes the consistent use of the latest intralogistics, adapted to constantly increasing customer requirements. Since autumn 2018, Meyer & Meyer has taken over the complete distribution logistics for the 183 stores and e-commerce customers of Adler Modemärkte AG in Germany and Austria. The existing goods distribution center at Peine had to be expanded to include a powerful intralogistics system. New, convincing concept BSS Bohnenberg GmbH from Solingen won over with a shuttle warehouse concept and was commissioned in spring 2018 to implement the expansion planned by Meyer & Meyer.The core element was a 3‐aisle shuttle‐system with a height of 12 meters, a length of 65 meters, and a capacity of 20,500 parking spaces. This highly dynamic and energy-efficient solution won over, through optimal use of space and land and a high throughput, guaranteed by 33 storage vehicles as well as 3 devices ‐ and 6 container lifters. The fully automated warehouse for double-deep storage of cardboard boxes and folding boxes with flat-packed goods was connected to the conveyor technology also supplied by BSS on two levels. While the lower, long-established conveyor technology level takes over the incoming ‐ and outgoing goods flow, the conveyor technology installed at the stage level is connected to the picking ‐, packing ‐, and return areas. BSS also supplied the entire automation technology, the visualization, and the material flow computer, tailored to customer requirements. The plant was built in three construction phases and gradually put into production. Find out more about this project. [...]
  • Complete renewal of the Büroring central warehouse in HaanComplete renewal of the Büroring central warehouse in Haan12. February 2020Capacity and performance reserves developed in a limited space. The Büroring group of companies has invested almost four million euros in the reorganization of intralogistics at Haan. With the new multistory carton conveyor system integrated into an existing building, the order throughput times could be significantly reduced with increased process reliability. At the same time, the general contractor BSS Bohnenberg managed to multiply the available usable space by introducing additional picking areas during the rebuild. The Büroring group of companies is a cooperative nationwide leading association of more than 500 medium-sized office specialist dealers. In this B2B sector, the strengths of the “Büroring family” are further strengthened by Büroring eG and Büro Forum AG. Central approaches are market-oriented bundling of the purchasing volume, joint services, and joint logistics. In Haan in the Rhineland, around 100 employees are currently driving the success model represented by membership turnover of around 800 million euros. The linchpin for the distribution of the goods is the central warehouse, which is also located there. Around 12,000 different items are permanently stocked and will be delivered within 24 hours of receipt of the order. These are primarily commercial office supplies, but also office and property furnishings. Success creates a need for action In view of the steadily growing range and impending capacity bottlenecks, the decision was mutually made in 2016 to completely realign key intralogistics sub-areas. In order to be able to map the growth rates efficiently in the long term, the focus was especially on shortened process times, increased flexibility, and improved response alternatives to seasonal fluctuations. “The big dilemma was that no further space was available for the restructuring,” reports Büroring board member Jörg Schaefers. “The order picking system to be newly integrated had to be implemented in a limited space without sacrificing the required throughput and process quality.” The concept developed by the general contractor BSS Bohnenberg GmbH in Solingen planned for an extensive, multistory carton conveyor system, divided into the areas of “order start”, “picking”, “inspection” and “packaging/shipping”. The system solution also includes a shelving racks system with a length of 1,000 m, several hundred general cargo channels, labelers, and a fully automatic carton strapping machine. At the same time, Büroring commissioned the intralogistics specialist, who is also responsible for the construction management and trade coordination, to link the automation level to the existing SAP system. Since day-to-day business was to be maintained during the construction phase, the picking activities including the necessary shelving racks were temporarily moved to another hall. This created space to install customized conveyor technology lines and a new, four-meter-high stage on a shelf area of around 2,200 m² in the existing logistics property. Clever processes for improved performance Since commissioning at the end of 2017, the order throughput times have been successively reduced. The provided and picking-by-voice-assisted picking service has a decisive part in this. “With the help of the new system solution, we have today been able to significantly increase the picking performance to around 1,500 picks per hour,” emphasizes Jörg Schaefers. “Even only after a short period of time, the packaging performance could, meanwhile, be significantly increased to over 2,000 parcels a day.” A cleverly arranged system layout also made it possible to make optimal use of the usable space. Cartons in six different dimensions and with a maximum weight of 30 kg are moved on the new conveyor system in two shifts five days a week. If necessary, plastic containers and trays weighing up to 50 kg also run through the line. In the course of individual item picking, the packaging units are successively transferred to the customer cartons according to “Pick & Pack”. This is done through a total of eleven picking stations. Stations 1 to 6 are reserved for fast-moving items. Here the picking process starts as soon as the order box arrives. Stations 7 to 11, however, are designed on the principle of multi-stage picking. Items that are already laid out ready in a collecting compartment and are only intended for an order are transferred to the supplied boxes. “This principle reduces the length of time the order box stays in this area, which is characterized by a high volume of items, to a minimum,” emphasizes BSS project manager Hans Kemmerling. “As a result, noticeably shorter throughput times were achieved.” Picking system with a handover system The basis for a consistently assured process quality, however, is already laid at the start of the order. So a sales order is assigned to individual shipping boxes after volume entry in SAP ERP using volume calculation. Taking into account priorities determined in parallel, the individual shipping boxes are placed in an execution queue. At the start of the job, the calculated carton type is then visualized on a screen, erected, and pushed onto the conveyor line. This is followed by a contour check and the application of a barcode label. This is scanned and “married” to the next order for the identified carton type. Smaller, possibly ineligible boxes can be manually labeled and placed on a tray. After order start, each box moves to the stations where items have to be picked or are already available for collection. For this purpose, SAP transmits a target chain to the PLC system, so that the stations are approached in chronological order to avoid unnecessary circulation on the conveyor system. After removing an item and inserting it into the box, the worker acknowledges the process. Once all the picks have been processed, SAP generates a corresponding telegram and transmits it to the PLC. The box is pushed onto the main line and transported to the next station defined within the target chain. If a station to be started is occupied, it can be started again thanks to the gyro options within the system. Reliable supply replenishment and dispatch After acknowledgment of the last open station in the target chain, the box is fed from the stage to packaging via a spiral conveyor Here it passes a reporting point via which the SAP system triggers the creation of print files for the delivery note and the invoice on an ad hoc basis. Incoming cardboard boxes are hauled to a free space by the employees, scanned, and loaded with shipping papers and, if necessary, advertising. This is followed by putting on a snap-on lid and attaching the shipping label created from the already prepared spool files. The latter also lists the package weight, which is determined using a shipping scale embedded in the table surface. Customer boxes intended for regular parcel shipping pass through the automatic strapping machine and are discharged to one of the three end points. They can be conveyed to the truck trailer via driven scissor roller conveyors, where they can be removed and stacked. The replenishment of supplies for the eleven picking stations is organized via the narrow aisle warehouse. In the area of the train stations further away, this is done on foot or by hand pallet truck via a freight elevator. The six fast-moving stations installed below the stage can be operated directly via forklifts. As a result, the total of 1,300 flow channels or shelving racks can be supplied via replenishment aisles without collisions with one of the workers working within the system. Pallet goods required on the stage are fed from the ground floor via a handrail lock using a forklift. Provision is also made for the proverbial “worst-case scenario”: If, for example, barcode reading errors occur in the system, the cartons in question are sent to a NIO space. After checking and leaving the checkpoint, they either enter the special packing area or are reintroduced into the system.  In addition, the possibility was created to quickly summarize backlogged but now available items in a subsequent delivery. In such a case, picking takes place in a plastic container. In the special packing zone, these items can then be repacked into small mailing bags. Hans Kemmerling on this: “This procedure has the advantage that the conveyor load of the system is reduced and blockages or a segment-by-segment shutdown due to overfilling can be avoided.” Well prepared for further growth The rebuild was divided into a total of seven project phases, spread over a time window of almost two years. In doing so, the maxim was always unrestricted: Security against implementation speed. “In close cooperation with the intralogistics general contractor BSS, we have succeeded in integrating a new system solution here in Haan, which has not only led to short-term efficiency gains, but also to permanent added value,” summarized Büroring board member Jörg Schaefers. The cooperative is now in a position to also be able to map and handle future expansion of the range. Special items, for example in the context of a project and tendering business, can also be brought in easily and seasonal curves could be intercepted flexibly. The demand for shortened process times was also met in order to be able to guarantee prompt delivery of member orders. [...]
  • Fruit and Vegetable Commissioning with our FLOWPICKER®Fruit and Vegetable Commissioning with our FLOWPICKER®12. February 2020Discover more on the EHI Retail Institute website: “Obst und Gemüse am laufenden Band” Read more [...]