As the general contractor for E/D/E (purchasing office of German iron dealers) the BSS Materialflussgruppe realised a 12-aisle automated small parts storage with storage locations for around 71,500 containers within only 12 months. The new logistics centre ensures the supply of approx. 1,500 retail companies. The characteristic feature of the new facility is the extremely fast cycle times of the stacker cranes.
The heart of the facility is the 12-aisle automated small parts storage for single-depth storage of containers in three different height classes. Stocking and removal in the 50 m long warehouse is carried out by 12 automatic stacker cranes (STC) which are equipped with two load handling attachments each and were designed for high capacities. Two stacked load handling attachments with grip-pull technology (no telescopic device!) provide extremely compact container storage. The device grips the front ribs of the container and pushes the containers onto the shelf or pulls them out. 158 double cycles are carried out with running speeds of 6 metres per second, which equates to around 1,900 container movements per hour. The automated small parts storage is linked to the 14 multiple picking stations as well as to the seven storage units for order collection by means of a container handling system with a total length of 4.5 km at a height of 5 m. The storage units for order collection are equipped with 7.70 m high lifting beam STC with combination telescope for double-depth storage. In this way more than 1,400 E/D/E tour containers with up to 50 kg can be stocked and removed. Each storage unit for order collection features over 440 container locations and has the task of pre-sorting routes and sending the containers to the despatch department in a fixed sequence.
