The globally active company Grass is building its new central warehouse in Hohenems, Austria. For this project, the Austrian manufacturer of movement systems for furniture relies on the know-how of the software manufacturer TUP. The Software Manufactory is developing an individually tailored warehouse management system (TUP.WMS) for the planned 35,000 pallet spaces as well as an precisely customized flow computer (TUP.MFC): automatic incoming and outgoing goods, automated picking and sequential consolidation of customer orders are just some of the features of the state-of-the-art central warehouse. Commissioning of the entire system is planned for early 2020.

The new logistics center of the company, which is specialized in movement systems for furniture, will include a total of four main storage areas. In addition to a high-bay warehouse with a total of eight aisles and a paternoster, the incoming and outgoing goods areas with manual and automated unloading and loading respectively, as well as the order picking area including the sequencer (shipping buffer) docked to it, are undoubtedly worthy of mention.

A central warehouse with automated and manual picking

The picking area is divided into two individual zones, one for manual and one for automated picking: A picking robot takes over the automatic removal of goods from the source pallets, which are provided by the materials handling system. This robot in turn loads the customer-specific target pallets based on a sizing pattern. “It should be noted that the picking of mixed pallets can be done automatically by the robot or at a manual picking station. Thus, our TUP.WMS assigns an order to both picking zones if necessary”, explains Julia Hodecker, project manager at TUP.

Shipping buffer with sequential consolidation using round-robin method

Grass also relies on complete automation for the sequential consolidation of pallets: “After order picking, whether automated or manual, the order pallets are stored in two shipping buffers, among other things. Depending on the order, the pallets are distributed by the TUP.WMS according to the round-robin method into the so-called sequencers in equal measure and fully automatically retrieved and transferred to the shipping department,” Hodecker explains the buffer function.

Fully automated incoming and outgoing goods

The already mentioned incoming and outgoing goods department with automated unloading and loading is also a challenge in terms of software technology and is managed by TUP.

Grass has been part of the Würth Group since 2004: “Investments in logistics, especially on this scale, always stand for growth and development. Thanks to the function of the central warehouse, we are able to shorten reaction times considerably”, Robert Friedmann, Chairman of the Central Managing Board of the Würth Group, recently expressed his satisfaction.

Teaser image: Grass