A fully-automatic high bay warehouse was recently constructed during expansion of the plant at the B&R Automation headquarters in Eggelsberg, Austria. The intralogistics centre, with ultra-modern storage/retrieval machines and material handling systems for pallets was implemented by TGW Systems Integration, with the control, visualisation and drive technology all provided by B&R.
The new B&R high bay warehouse has a total area of 6,600m², a shelf height of over 19m, a shelf length of 72m and a capacity of 18,000 pallets. It features a fully-automatic logistics concept which is controlled using B&R Automation technology.
Control systems
Five aisle-guided storage/retrieval machines in two-sided shelf aisles ensure high-performance and fully-automatic handling. Around 150 double-actions, i.e. 300 euro pallets, can be precisely stored and/or retrieved per hour. The storage/retrieval machines are linked with eight commissioning stations on two levels with automatic transport of the palettes in both directions using material handling systems.
The well-established X20 control and I/O system is used to ensure maximum performance of this complex, ultra-modern storage system. The entire safety technology solution utilises B&R X20 SafeLOGIC and X20 SafeIO components in a decentralised layout based on POWERLINKsafety. For system visualisation, the operators use B&R automation panels, which allow simple and intuitive entry of important control parameters. In addition, the entire system and also individual system parts can be seen from each operator station.
From any location, modern remote maintenance mechanisms allow complete system diagnostics information including active system status information down to the individual I/O channels and drives to be sent via text message or email.
Precision and energy efficiency
All of the drives for the storage/retrieval machines and the material handling systems are equipped with servo technology from B&R. Euro pallets weighing up to 1,000kg are precisely positioned over a total distance of 72m with acceleration values of 2.5m/sec². The energy efficiency is an important advantage. Power regeneration on the B&R servo drives is said to reduce energy costs during daily operation by a third.
SAP R/3 LES (Logistic Execution System) is used to manage stock and control the flow of materials. The controllers for the storage system are linked directly to the SAP system using the SAP R/3 module TRM (Task and Resource Management). The extra material flow computer that is normally used is not required, and neither are high-maintenance data interfaces with double storage of item and stock data. Planning the order in which tasks are carried out and defining all storage and retrieval strategies are done exclusively in SAP R/3 and can be quickly adjusted to changing logistics requirements.
Stock movements are processed with SAP on B&R Automation PCs at stationary commissioning stations, and in-house transport is controlled and acknowledged using mobile data acquisition devices, which ensures that the current status of product movements is known at all times.
Highly economical total solutions for logistics systems that save resources are made available by integrating B&R technology in well-established storage systems.
