ZKW ramps production and adds capacity with new expansion

In a press release the company discloses that additional assembly lines have been connected to the new system each week since mid-October. The goal is to have all 28 production lines linked to the logistics centre by the first quarter of 2022. ZKW hasn't only gained additional storage capacity thanks to the smart warehouse, it has also cleared up areas previously used for storage to be used as new production space. “Thanks to the new logistics center, in the future the entire flow of goods – from receipt to manufacturing – will be fully automated and will include no extra steps to move goods into or out of storage. Now it takes just 15 minutes from the time materials are ordered on the assembly line to the time the required parts arrive” says Stefan Hauptmann, General Plant Manager for ZKW Lichtsysteme Wieselburg in the press release.. The logistics center is equipped with the “Multi Shuttle” storage system from manufacturer Dematic. Overall, the 80-meter long, 20-meter wide and 21-meter high building complex provides 62,000 container storage spaces – divided over five lanes of 28 levels each. The company says that the system can transport the majority of the containers from the warehouse directly to the assembly line via a roller transport system. The transport system, which is around three kilometers long, can handle up to 1,500 movements per hour of goods into and out of storage. Around 190 different types of containers can be transported at speeds of up to 0.8 meters per second. The two existing high-bay shelving systems are also connected. “We are saving a huge amount of space on the assembly line with the system, since it delivers the required parts on a fully automated basis and as-needed” says Hauptmann. All the production space at the Wieselburg location is already being utilised. At the same time, there are an increasing number of components and variants, taking up more and more space each year. The new logistics centre not only expands storage capacity, but also makes it possible to convert former storage space into production areas.