Speck Pumpen Walter Speck GmbH & Co. KG

Everything at a glance

The ability to ship ordered products as fast as possible is one of today's greatest business challenges. This requires an extremely efficient intralogistics system combined with effective warehouse management software. With this in mind, Speck Pumpen in Roth, Germany, a well-known manufacturer of liquid and vacuum pumps, replaced its obsolete rack storage with automated Hänel Lean-Lift® vertical technology.

Speck, a successful business in the SME segment, was growing at the rate of 25 percent. As throughput constantly increased, the company's conventional rack storage could not meet business requirements. The put and pick operations involve more than 6,000 articles every day – and the number continues to rise. Hänel specialists worked closely with Speck to develop and install a completely new intralogistics concept. The solution is currently comprised of six Hänel Lean-Lifts®, each with a height of seven meters.

The footprint of the Lean-Lifts® is just 60 m2, yet the systems offer a storage capacity of up to 660 m2. This represents an enormous increase in storage density. Additional optimization of put and pick processes, along with improvements in routing for goods received, production and order dispatching, also reduced throughput times. The deployment phase and training for the new storage systems was managed professionally by Hänel service staff.

Employees use the touch screen on the MP12 N controller for each Lean-Lift® to regulate system operation and sequential order processing. Complex storage management takes place in the WMS host system. Thanks to a wide range of configuration options and add-on modules, the software can be customized for every customer as needed.

HänelSoft® manages the complete flow of material. Storage position, container and inventory levels are constantly tracked by the overarching ERP system. Based on each order request, HänelSoft® manages the six Lean-Lifts® and sends pick commands to the appropriate lift controller. All that employees need to do is confirm the completed pick lists. The requested storage containers holding the ordered items are brought automatically to the retrieval area. The digital indicator at the retrieval point shows employees which storage bins to select. HänelSoft® supports simultaneous order picking with several systems and thus optimizes the entire process for every employee.

The practical 3D visualization of storage positions provided by HänelSoft® gives employees a clear picture of the actual storage status. The storage space on each container can be configured and customized using freely definable templates to optimize any kind of storage scenario. The definition of storage bin types in various sizes is done with the graphical container overview in HänelSoft®.