Jungheinrich : Additional aisle

Commissioning of Kracht GmbH's expanded logistics centre in Werdohl, North Rhine-Westphalia: Jungheinrich has added an additional aisle to the pump specialist's fully automated high-bay pallet warehouse during ongoing operations, creating space for 2,600 more pallet storage Locations.

Strength lies in peace. Hidden champions have staying power and grow systematically. Kracht GmbH from Werdohl in the Sauerland region exemplifies this. As one of the leading German manufacturers of gear pumps, flow measurement technology, hydraulic components and valves, the traditional company, which employs 400 people worldwide, designs, produces and sells its sophisticated products around the globe. To further optimise its added value, Kracht has now expanded the high-bay warehouse of its logistics centre in South Westphalia, which was only newly built in 2017, with Jungheinrich by adding another aisle. For this purpose, the 50-metre-long and 23-metre-high structure of the silo high-bay warehouse was widened by 7.5 metres. This created space for around 2,600 additional pallets during ongoing operations and under difficult coronavirus-related conditions. As in the two existing aisles of the high-bay warehouse, a stacker crane from Jungheinrich subsidiary MIAS is used. With a payload of 1,000 kilograms, it is able to handle up to 30 double cycles with 15 stock transfers per hour.

Only about four years ago, Kracht centralised its warehouse system together with Jungheinrich and built a two-aisle high-bay pallet warehouse on 3,500 square metres as well as an automatic miniload warehouse with more than 12,000 storage locations including conveyor technology periphery. In the course of this, a comprehensive restructuring of the production logistics was carried out and a new type of material flow concept was integrated, all controlled by the Jungheinrich WMS.

As part of the expansion now being carried out, Jungheinrich is increasing the existing conveyor technology for pallets and containers - including control and visualisation. The Jungheinrich WMS, which is connected to Kracht's existing merchandise management system, can be dynamically adapted on an ongoing basis.

With the commissioning of the extension, Kracht has set a further milestone in its comprehensive restructuring of its plant logistics, which the company started four years ago alongside Jungheinrich. They have definitely set a course for further growth in production and logistics for the future.