Logistics automation and software company Fortna has developed an automated high-bay warehouse (HBW) solution for bathroom and lighting retailer Reuter, which uses AGVs and goods-to-person workstations to ensure maximum availability, rapid order processing and fast shipments.
The new solution, which is being rolled out in stages, is being deployed at Reuter’s central site in Mönchengladbach-Rheindahlen, Germany.
The solution
Once complete, the new automated pallet HBW will have a capacity of 17,000 pallet spaces in a logistics space of 32,000 sqm. The solution will perform 420 double cycles per hour, according to Fortna, with 12 stacker cranes in 12 aisles.
The forklifts currently in use in the site’s “pre-zone” will be replaced by AGVs, which will ensure a seamless interface between storage, retrieval and goods-to-person picking.
In the future, Reuter will be able to meet increasing demand for capacity or load fluctuations through the scalable use of additional AGVs, Fortna noted.
The Reuter Fortna partnership
Reuter first launched its online store back in 2004. Since then, the business has grown rapidly. Today, several hundred thousand items from more than 250 brands are available at reuter.de. The firm is now one of the largest specialty and online retailers for bathrooms and lighting in Europe.
Reuter and Fortna first worked together ten years ago when Reuter commissioned Fortna with the concept planning for the centralization of its operations at the Mönchengladbach-Rheindahlen site.
Volker Titzkus, Head of Supply Chain Management and Procurement at Reuter, said: “Since then, one thing has become clear: when it comes to our logistics development, we have confidence in the expertise of the team led by project manager Michael Geisinger [Solution Architect Senior Manager at Fortna]. It is, after all, primarily our logistical operations that are continually being put to the test, due to our rapid growth, and they need to be constantly adapted.”
An integrated concept
Through Reuter’s current project with Fortna, the bathroom firm is expanding capacity for its online business to meet the ever-increasing demands of delivery speed and the customer shopping experience.
“After gathering all the key data and defining all the planning parameters, we developed an integrated concept,” said Geisinger. “This not only provides the flexibility and capacity currently required through optimized processes and specially selected automation measures but can also support the company's future growth.
“The heart of the logistics system is a fully automated high-bay warehouse with goods-to-person workstations and automated guided vehicles,” he added.
AGVs are already being used effectively in the self-pick-up area of the Reuter logistics centre. “Fully automated vehicles process the ever-increasing number of orders from customers who pick up their goods from us on site after ordering online. It all happens efficiently, quickly and with the usual high quality,” Titzkus concluded.
