markets+trends | news for factory automation 1/2017 more impressions of our global distribution center be matched with the code in the system. if the box arrives at one of the three distribution centers, it is now automatically inventoried and stored.” only in the case of deliveries from external companies is human intervention needed—for now, because we are in talks with suppliers about how their boxes can be incorporated into the auto- mated system. humans in the midst of automation employees are primarily involved in picking the goods, where individual orders are compiled and packaged. light signals, which indicate the requested parts, assist them in repacking the goods from warehouse boxes into the shipping boxes. this technical assistance, also called pick by light, reduces search times and the error rate, and supports the employees’ concentration. if possible, however, the full bin retrieval principle is used: even in production, the packaging sizes are matched to various customer requirements, so that entire boxes can be forwarded unopened and without human intervention. ideal conditions in singapore the amount of time saved just by automatic storage is explained by the director of the gdc in singapore, han thanh hong: “previously, reining what has been tried and tested structure, technology, and the “operating system” in houston are in when a 40-foot container was delivered, we needed two days to line with the other two centers. the new udc there will irst serve the inventory the goods and transport it to the racks. today, we can do north and also later the south american market. “we can also use it in three hours.” the structure and technology of the mannheim it as a regional showroom for our logistics products,” says külken. logistics center was not applied one-to-one in the gdc. “we used “we can demonstrate the performance of our sensors in operation to the experiences from germany and developed the system further. interested customers there.” the updated version was then transferred back to mannheim after what will benefit customers most, however, will be quicker, more the introduction in singapore, so that we are now at the same, im- reliable delivery, which will be made possible by the optimized, high- proved level.” quality logistics processes. incidentally, these are subject to a con- the star ting position in singapore was similar to mannheim. the tinuous improvement process, known within the company as loop old logistics center was bursting at the seams, and accelerating (lean operation and organization in processes). “this process may the processes was becoming more and more urgent. 80 percent reveal that an additional tool at a specific workspace can save a lot of pepperl+fuchs products come from locations in the city-state of time,” explains külken. as well as vietnam and indonesia. so it was obvious that the new the storage facilities have also been able to take the next steps toward global distribution center should be built in the southeast asian region. digital transformation. “thanks to the high level of automation, ‘digital “singapore, with its modern infrastructure and traic connections, logistics’ is tangible and can be integrated into ongoing processes. with business-friendly regulations, and good conditions for import and constant access to all data and diferent possibilities for ine-tuning, export transactions, ofered the best environment,” said han thanh the processes in our distribution centers also conform to the principles hong. join us on a video tour through the european distribution center! of vertical and horizontal networking. the dynamic maintenance man- agement is already making real-time data available to intelligent systems—be it the information from motors and brakes on the stacker cranes or the photoelectric sensors on shuttle cars. these forecast models allow machine learning and thus pave the way for predictive maintenance, which will significantly reduce sudden failures,” says külken. n
