Strong growth

Focus on supplying production

In order to optimize internal processes and create additional space for production, the company decided to build a new warehouse. The aim was to consolidate warehousing and increase the efficiency of logistics processes. "The focus was on the optimal supply of production," explains Reiner Schäfer. The entire logistics concept was developed together with Viastore: Phoenix Contact has been using material flow solutions from the Stuttgart-based intralogistics expert at various international locations for many years.

Two areas - one building

The concept is based on a new warehouse building, which is divided into two areas: In a five-aisle automated small parts warehouse (AKL) with just under 40,000 storage locations, all parts for the production of connectors are stored, i.e. housings, insulating bodies, contact pins and other accessories. A high-bay warehouse with 1,823 pallet spaces is available for large-volume and heavy materials such as cable drums, granulates and packaging materials. The four aisles are served by narrow-aisle forklift trucks.

In front of the warehouse, there are pre-zones on two floors, each with four manual workstations. Employees can use them to pick, store and prepare goods for dispatch. The production area, which is also located on two levels, is directly adjacent to the pre-zones of the two storage areas. "Thanks to the restructuring of the production areas, it was possible to bundle them in one location and they are now also directly connected to the warehouse in terms of space," explains Reiner Schäfer. "This enables us to deliver the goods to the right places by the shortest route, in the required quantity and at the right time."

High flexibility thanks to tugger trains

The conveyor system links production and storage via one tugger train per floor, each equipped with two trolleys or frames. "The entire concept is designed for strong growth," explains Stefan Rueß, the responsible project manager at Viastore. "Tugger trains offer precisely this flexibility for the future. Production islands can be enlarged, relocated or modified with little effort. We can also supply production independently of orders using the Kanban principle or based on orders." The tugger trains also bring the finished products back to the warehouse and are a core element of the new concept, around which all other measures have been developed.

Fully automatic loading and unloading

The tugger trains coming from production place the racks loaded with goods in the loading and unloading station. A small stationary storage and retrieval machine unloads and loads the racks fully automatically with containers holding the goods for production. These are already waiting in a sorting buffer, which is served by the conveyor system from the miniload. Each rack is loaded with exactly what a particular workstation island needs in production. The employees also place the finished goods in the racks, which are parked at the production islands and taken along on the next tour of the tugger train.

Phoenix Contact Connector Technology has procured new loading aids for the production supply in order to be able to implement fully automatic loading and unloading. A total of four different container types are currently in use at the Herrenberg plant - in two basic dimensions and two heights. These are also used by the suppliers, who use them to deliver the material ordered by Phoenix Contact on pallets. Here, too, the company relies fully on automation: an articulated robot with a multifunctional gripper removes the pallet lids and places the containers on a conveyor belt for storage in the miniload.

Unity of WMS and system technology

The Viadat 9.0 warehouse and material flow management system from Viastore controls and manages all processes. "We view system technology and software as a single unit," explains Reiner Schäfer. Thanks to its scalability and modular structure, Viadat can be easily expanded with functions, warehouse types or interfaces. "Due to the high item variance and flexibility, we have integrated the tugger train control and the palletizing station into Viadat," explains Stefan Rueß.

The WMS also impressed those responsible at Phoenix Contact with its independence from platforms and systems. "First of all, the warehouse and material flow management software had to have an interface to our ERP system Abas," says Reiner Schäfer, outlining the requirements. "But it also had to be suitable for a later switch to SAP." No problem for Viadat, which has a standard interface to all common ERP systems.

Operation via touchscreen

The warehouse employees operate the system at the manual workstations using touchscreens. Innovative glove scanners in conjunction with smartphone-style handhelds are used on the tugger trains and on the narrow-aisle stacker. "With the very clear visualization on the dashboard, Viadat enables us to keep an eye on all the system's performance parameters and eliminate any faults more quickly," adds Reiner Schäfer.

With the new production and logistics concept, Phoenix Contact Connector Technology can streamline its production supply and all processes run much more efficiently. "Thanks to the new structure, we are able to switch production at short notice and offer our customers maximum delivery performance," says Reiner Schäfer enthusiastically. And with the flexible and scalable warehouse technology and production supply, the company has already created the basis for future expansions.