Versatility and automation level in storage, commissioning and transport systems

Theme Factory planning, Automation
Project title Versatility and automation level in storage, commissioning and transport systems (WALaTra)
Project duration 01.08.2017 – 31.12.2019
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The increasing product variant diversity and cost pressure are setting new requirements for storage, commissioning and transport systems, like low investments or high adaptability. Especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), it is difficult to handle this challenge. The organisation has to choose an optimal system for their storage, commissioning and transport processes in order to stay competitive in the global economy. In the process, SMEs should pay special attention to both the versatility and the automation level as well as their interdependencies.

The goal of this research project is to support SMEs in this task. Therefore, a method that enables the decision maker to identify the required versatility and automation level against the background of the storage product portfolio and form of organisation will be developed. For the system selection, it is necessary to structure current systems according to their versatility and automation level.

A software demonstrator will offer the possibility to identify an optimal combination of storage, commissioning and transport systems. Ultimately, the user will get a variety of potential systems, with their corresponding degree of fulfilment for the respective indicators, to choose an optimal solution from.

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  • 11.06.2018
  • IPH Hannover, Hollerithallee 6, 30419 Hannover

Publications about the project

Storage planning is an important element of the factory planning and a significant competitive factor in times of an increasing global market. The selection of a suitable storage, commissioning and transport system (sct system) is a major challenge for companies, because of the increasing number of new sct systems with different features. The level of automation and versatility of these systems are intransparent and the required level of both for a certain company is unknown. To identify the level of versatility of sct systems a method based on versatility characteristics assigned to the versatility enablers was developed. To determine the required versatility of sct systems for a particular company, a catalogue of change drivers was created. For the level of automation of sct systems, the requirements resulting from product characteristics and performance requirements of the warehouse were identified. The performance of the sct systems depends on the automation level, which can be set by influencing factors such as the degree of digitalization. The required level of automation must be determined by restrictions of the company and the identified possibilities of the systems. At the same time, it is required to consider the costs of the systems as well as their possible combinations. Therefore, to save costs, the aim is also to consider systems which do not fit perfectly to the required versatility and automation level for a company but are still at an acceptable level.

storage, commissioning and transport systems, automation and versatility

The selection of storage, commissioning and transport systems (sct systems) is very complex due to the large number of available systems on the market and influencing factors. One important influencing factor is automation. To classify the degrees of automation of sct systems and to determine the individually required automation a method is proposed below.

automation, storage, commissioning and transport systems

The selection of a storage commissioning and transport system in times of industry 4.0 often takes place based on the automation that these systems bring with them. It is difficult to assert the actual level of automation from these systems. This paper presents general approaches for the determination of automation. After it will give a presentation of the developed method to identify the level of automation from systems.

level of automation, storage, commissioning and transport systems, storage planning, logistics

The storage planning is an important component of the factory planning and describes an improvement potential in the times of an increasing global competition. The selection of a suitable storage, commissioning and transport system is a big challenge especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. In a research project of IPH – Institut für Integrierte Produktion Hannover a method for companies will be created to determine the necessary level of versatility and automation to choose an optimal system. This article introduces the research project and explains the approach and first results.

storage planning, sct systems, versatility, automation, software demonstrator

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