Despatch automated (SPX Hainburg)
Saar Lagertechnik GmbH, 65812 Bad Soden/Taunus, were commissioned by SPX Europe GmbH, the leading supplier of special tooling for the automobile industry based in Hainburg, to install a packaging line to make order-picking more efficient and to automate the packing and despatch processes for fast-moving items and goods on special offer.
It was decided to use a live storage shelving unit and to have both the storing and allocation of stock positions determined by an SAP software program. Order-picking is done on the man-to-goods principle with the order-picker moving along a conveyor, built into the live storage racking, and selecting articles from a optimised picking list.
order-picking area Vulnerable articles are placed unpacked in the despatch containers. To avoid damage during transport a special shrink-wrap system was implemented: a cardboard inlay with plastic foil glued to the underside is placed in each despatch carton - folding cartons made by RHIN EMBALLAGES in Erstein, France . During the order-picking process the sides of the plastic foil are positioned upright along the sides of the carton. After the last item has been put in the despatch container, the sides of the foil are laid loosely over the goods.
The first position in the despatch area is a shrink oven in which the foil is briefly exposed to a high temperature and heat-sealed. An intelligent control system makes sure that cartons with different lengths (between 250mm and 750mm) are heat-sealed uniformly. This process fixes the goods in position in the carton so that they cannot slide around. The time-consuming practice of adding packing materials is dispensed with.
 fully automatic packaging |
 shrinkwrapping oven |
Furthermore, the packaging line includes a weighing station where cartons are ejected if their actual weight does not correspond to the weight the stock management system calculates that they should have. The stock management system was implemented by Saar Lagertechnik and is directly coupled to the SAP software. In addition, the stock management system controls the printing of the delivery note and the address labels. The final elements in the process are a fully automatic strapping machine and a small buffer area for packages awaiting despatch.
