Gaugler & Lutz specializes in lightweight and sandwich construction as well as the manufacture and sale of sports, rehabilitation and leisure articles. The family-run company based in Aalen-Ebnat supplies components for wind turbines, road and rail transportation and shipbuilding, for example. In its industrial joinery at the Aalen-Ebnat site, Gaugler & Lutz processes balsa wood and foam materials, preferably rigid foams. These are used to reinforce the rotor blades in wind turbines, among other things. The processed materials have so far been stored in three warehouses in Ebnat-Süd. Due to the increasing demand for lightweight materials, the company decided to build a new building with production, logistics and administration space. A solution was needed that would make optimum use of the available space. The aim was to store the maximum number of items in the smallest possible space. Gaugler & Lutz therefore erected cantilever mobile racking on an area of 2,200 square meters, creating continuous shelves for pallet storage.

"We store and retrieve up to 120 pallets of raw materials every day," explains Dr. Rüdiger Wittenbeck, Project Manager for Process Optimization at Gaugler & Lutz. The different formats of the materials and varying pallet dimensions made precise and space-optimized storage difficult. Before the new logistics center was built, storage took place in standard racks or in block storage. Front forklifts transported the pallets to their destinations. "We were unable to make optimum use of our storage spaces in this way," says Vanessa Iliadis, who is responsible for logistics processing at Gaugler & Lutz. "Following the introduction of our semi-automated warehouse logistics at the new site, transportation and stockpiling are now much more effective." In search of a partner who could supply a suitable vehicle for transporting the pallets in the mobile racking and ensure an optimal connection to the conveyor technology, the specialist for assembled components turned to Hubtex. The manufacturer of special vehicles for transporting bulky loads convinced Gaugler & Lutz with a customized interface concept that enables the vehicle and conveyor technology to be connected in the overall system. Hubtex also ensured coordination between the vehicle and the warehouse management system.

The racking system consists of twelve cantilever transfer carriages, each with three to five continuous storage levels arranged one above the other and two fixed rows of racking on the side walls. As the pallets and the materials to be stored do not have standard formats, the length, width and height of the goods are first determined using a light grid. The weight is then determined. The dimensions and total weight of each load carrier determine the storage location.

When the specified rack height is reached during storage, the lift mast stops automatically and storage can begin. © Hubtex

After the measurement, a roller conveyor system transports the pallet to the warehouse. There, forklift driver Denis Velichko picks it up with the MQ 30 from Hubtex and scans the attached barcode. "The ideal storage location is clearly determined by the dimensions and weight and is transmitted to the forklift driver by our process technology," explains Vanessa Iliadis. The assigned aisle in the transfer system opens automatically. The driver latches onto the inductive wire in front of the aisle and sets the electric multidirectional sideloader in motion. The vehicle positions itself automatically in the correct position in front of the rack. The mobile racks have to be positioned very precisely to allow the truck to track with a safety distance of just a few millimetres from the racks and to prevent contact with racks or goods.

Once the specified rack height has been reached, the lift mast stops automatically. The Hubtex Load Manager enables a freely programmable lift height preselection with 99 positions. Once the forklift driver has acknowledged the end position, the pallet is stored in the assigned position with millimeter precision. However, the forks can only be lifted up to ten centimetres below the sprinkler heads in each shelf. "Our rack extinguishing system comprises around 4,000 sprinkler heads," says Dr. Rüdiger Wittenbeck. "Precisely positioning the pallets without damaging the sprinkler heads was an additional challenge for the forklift operation."

The automatic extinguishing system is mandatory due to the unpackaged foamed plastics and protects against incipient fires. The multidirectional sideloaders also have personnel protection systems. Laser scanners on the vehicle permanently monitor the rack aisles. They detect people or obstacles that are in a dangerous area near the truck. The driving speed is automatically reduced until the truck comes to a standstill.

As the electric multidirectional sideloaders are guided, precise positioning of the vehicles is guaranteed. The inductive track guidance in the transfer system ensures safety: damage to the racking or the goods is virtually impossible. Optimized routes within the warehouse save time when storing and retrieving goods. The use of Hubtex stackers makes it possible to stock goods in confined spaces, as the distances between the rows of racks can be reduced to a minimum.

Gaugler & Lutz will continue to rely on the forklift manufacturer from Fulda in the future. There are plans to add a vacuum suction device to the electric multidirectional sideloaders from Hubtex. Panel picking with the Vacumat enables damage-free handling of sensitive materials and relieves the strain on employees when transporting bulky and heavy goods. as