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Production with distribution /
GARDENA uses WITRON’s picking system
GARDENA uses WITRON’s picking system
GARDENA, the manufacturer of gardening tools, optimizes its logistics and picking processes with the help of WITRON’s DPS. The compact but highly dynamic system for toteable small items was integrated into the existing intra-logistics concept within a very short time and is considered the highlight of GARDENA’s order picking logistics.
Customer: GARDENA / HUSQVARNA
The garden enjoys a high status throughout Europe as an extended place to live. And every small and hobby gardeners’ heart fills with joy when they talk about electric steerable lawnmowers, large-area irrigation systems, or garden showers. They all come from GARDENA and are representative for the sustainable success of the traditional Ulm-based company.
Location
Ulm
Industry sector
Production with distribution
Solutions
DPS
Volume
9 million picks
Special features of the project
Order picking is carried out according to the “pick & pack principle”. At the repack stations, empty totes are filled with order cartons according to the picking orders specified by the host computer. They then pass through the DPS. The picking workstations are located along an aisle in the middle of the automatic tote replenishment warehouse, which is an integral part of the DPS system solution. Certain static and dynamic pick channels are logically assigned to each pick location. Picking is visualized by means of a terminal and pick-by-light displays. The picking workstations are connected via a loop. Completely picked totes and order cartons finally move to the chutes in the order merging area, where the packages are distributed to the individual destinations. The WITRON warehouse management computer uses the LMS to transmit the required data to the control system of this area. Some 800 different items are currently picked in this mode in the DPS.
Challenge
For the manufacturer of gardening tools it is crucial that goods can always be picked in the optimum picking areas - small-volume items such as hose couplings in the DPS, large items such as lawnmowers in the conventional picking areas. In addition to the overall design, WITRON’s scope of services included the project management as the general contractor with complete responsibility, the implementation of the warehouse management and material flow control, as well as the delivery and installation of the automated tote warehouse, the conveyor connections, and stacker cranes. In detail, the DPS consists of three repacking stations, one order picking aisle with five pick locations and 640 pick channels, of which a significant part is dynamic, as well as an automated tote warehouse with two aisles, one stacker crane each, and a total of 8,700 double-deep storage locations. Since February 2006, GARDENA has benefited from maximum standardization combined with high variability and modularity with the DPS.
Customer opinion
The DPS is scalable and can be easily adapted to project-specific conditions such as the building topology, the number of items, or the required pick performance. It can also be expanded a later time. Despite the integration of further direct supply countries and the associated gain in small-volume picks for certain customer groups, we were able to increase productivity in order picking by between 16 and 32 percent compared to the same months of the previous year. In the past two years alone, GARDENA has additionally switched to direct supply of specialist and DYI stores in Italy, Spain, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium. This strong focus on the Ulm logistics center will lead to a further increase in picks this year to an expected nine million.