5 April 2024, Company News
RHW Logistik GmbH commissioned Kardex Mlog to construct a new logistics center at its Krefeld location. The new facility has a surface area of 9,850 square meters, built on a site of 21,100 square meters. It comprises a 42-meter-tall, fully automated high-bay warehouse with 5 aisles and conveying technology. The connected logistics area houses the integrated goods receipt, depalletizing and goods issue areas, an additional 1,200 square-meter steel platform for the future processing of parcel shipments, and two mezzanine levels with offices and social areas totaling 1,250 square meters. The installed photovoltaic system provides most of the energy required by the Kardex conveying technology, which also powers an underfloor heating system in the logistics area, ensuring the correct temperature in the plant. The prime location in the heart of North Rhine-Westphalia close to the container terminal means short distances to the dense highway network in the Rhine-Ruhr region. With more than 40 million euros in investment, RHW Logistik has increased its warehousing and shipping capacity for existing and new customers by approximately 30,000 pallet storage spaces. The flexible storage and material flow solution concept enables versatile usage, and the diverse options for future adjustments offer RHW Logistik high investment security. The processes between storage and retrieval, picking, and staging for shipping are controlled and visualized by the warehouse management software supplied by Kardex Mlog. When orders are compiled, the goods can originate from both automated and manual areas of the warehouse.
Washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, ovens and stoves, and other customer-specific items: The new RHW Logistik GmbH logistics center accommodates approximately 30,000 pallets on minimal floorspace. The goods are either stored as single items on the load carrier or stacked together in boxes. The purpose-built high-bay warehouse constructed by Kardex Mlog is 42 meters tall and towers over the other parts of the plant. At the same location, a 70,000-square-meter logistics plant belonging to another of the Group companies operates on a site comprised of some 155,000 square meters. The area is used for storing and shipping white goods to bulk purchasers and is also the site of a well-known e-commerce company.
Easy decision
The installation start for the new logistics center, completed in December 2023, was June 2022. Kardex Mlog was responsible for the project management, including scheduling and technical coordination of the steel racking construction, roof, and walls. “It was a straightforward decision to go for Kardex Mlog, especially since most of the technology originates from their production plant in Germany and their list of reference projects points to a wealth of experience,” explains RHW Project Manager Martin Lentz, who is very satisfied with the outcome of the project. “Kardex Mlog completed the project on time and with a high level of competence, and they were also very flexible and accommodating about any change requests we had. It could not have gone any better.”
The high-bay warehouse is approximately 106 meters long, 38 meters wide, and 420 meters tall. The scope of delivery includes 5 stacker cranes of type Kardex Mlog MSingle B 1000/41-ZT with aisle equipment and automatic control. The single-mast stacker cranes equipped with telescopic forks enable double‑deep storage and retrieval. The machines, which have a load capacity of approximately 1,000 kilograms, were installed in March 2023 by crane via small openings in the roof. Without transfers, each stacker crane has a capacity of up to 30 double cycles per hour. DC bus coupling and optimized control of the chassis and lift units, together with an energy feedback module, ensure significant energy savings and sustainable operation of the plant.
No wait times at depalletization
Staging in the loading zone
After the pallets get posted to the system in goods receipt, they are placed on an automatic conveying system via forklift truck. On their way to the high-bay warehouse, they are scanned, wrapped, and measured, and if there are any anomalies, they are automatically discharged to an NIO route (NIO = Not in Order). Two automatic stretch-wrap machines are integrated into the conveying and visualization systems electromechanically and via software. Automatic barcode readers located alongside the conveying technology identify the transport units. For this purpose, the barcode is applied to a specific position on the load so that the scanner can read the data on the pallet as it passes.
At the transfer stations in the high-bay warehouse, the pallets are picked up by stacker cranes and stored double deep. On retrieval, boxes stacked on pallets are removed if necessary and transported to the reception points in goods issue. Partly emptied pallets are returned to the high-bay warehouse, and full pallets are transported directly from the high-bay warehouse to goods issue, where they are picked up by forklift trucks, placed in the loading zone, and loaded onto trucks.
RHW Logistik GmbH is a subsidiary of RHW Holding, which belongs to the GGV Handelsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG group of companies. GGV specializes in the development, procurement, and supply of marketable products in the white goods segment. The focus is on sales markets in the EU, Switzerland, and Eastern Europe. With almost 600 products, the product range covers a wide range of applications, and the group aims to supply high-tech and quality at competitive prices. Established in 2006, the company owns a diverse range of brand and trademark rights in Europe and Asia, including the Exquisit brand.