However, really innovative is another feature in this warehousing concept. It does not only replace all intermediate storage facilities for the user but will also move the materials required right to respective workstation “just in time” without any manual transportation of the reels and trays. Said concept has already been realized for a major customer: all component reels and trays including all MSL reels and trays are already admitted to this warehousing system via goods receipt. To realize this purpose, it has been equipped with respective conveyance modules. Component reels and trays are provided just as needed on base of requests generated by production orders in the SAP system as well as additional demands for backfitting from SMT lines. Material requested directly by SMT lines is taken out of stock right to demanding position on the line. Reels and trays required to set up feeders at setup stations are set there in precisely the order defined by the setup schedule for feeder carts. Additionally, there are other options for taking out of stock – e.g. individually or as bulk.
The MSL Dry Tower Professional software performs all logistic functions related to taking in or out of stock and also defines the reels and trays suitable for taking out of stock. In this course, FIFO is only one overriding selection mode – others might be the remaining open time, expiry date, stock of certain reels and trays, etc. Also accounted for is stocked material reserved for other orders. The software continuously monitors climate-related data and cyclically calculates the current floor life time for all reels and trays.
The highly flexible warehousing system described in here features two bin storages and a total of five individual and individually operational stock removal facilities to ensure a flawless supply with materials without having to manually transport reels and trays to the place where the material is processed. The number of storage bins/removal facilities is not limited. There is only one storage system that handles the entire material supply for production. The overall system is integrated to the corporate IT environment through the software MSL Dry Tower Professional, and thus also becomes part of the proprietary traceability system. According to the calculations, this solution manages to achieve the lowest costs per storage bin at the moment. At the same time, it ensures by far the highest storage capacity in m² storage space. The investment costs required for the system will amortize in far less than one year of deployment – 3-shift-operation provided. The storage space formerly used to intermediately store materials for production supply can now be used effectively. In combination with additional software modules for batch identification and labeling at goods receipt as well as for further components tracing in production, this solution constitutes a unique and innovative approach that ensures significant savings and quality improvement for its operator.
This new warehousing solution has been designed in close cooperation between Totech EU, KLS Germany and ABP Automationssysteme GmbH and is successfully deployed by various renowned clients.
Productronica, Booth A3.140
