Intermediate stores are frequently located at the transition
points between production units. Incoming material is stored in
incoming warehouses while loading occurs from finished material
stocks. It is essential to minimize the amount of the total
stocked material, and to organize the transport of the material
in a way, that storage areas, transport equipment and manpower
will be used in the best manner. In this process, seamless
material tracking is a basic prerequisite.
To achieve this goal, Siemens has developed a new logistic system
for warehouse management. Its architecture permits the system to
be used both in a simple warehousing environment with manual
identification of material and storage locations and in warehouses
with automatic identification via remote measuring systems. At the
highest automation level, the material transport occurs fully
automatically by means of menless cranes and/or menless floor
transport vehicles, Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV). Other means
of transportation can also be integrated into the logistic system.
For detection of the position of cranes and free moving floor
transport vehicles, we use our new developed Local Positioning Radar.
A robust electronic is able to determined the exact position in a
three-dimensional space and can work independently from the fix
points of the sensors and the environments.
Mobile, robust operator PCs are used to control cranes and forklift
trucks, while mobile handheld terminals with or without scanner and
stationary, user-friendly operator PCs are used for floor-based
warehouse management.
This helps to keep inventories as low as possible. Material transport
systems that have been optimized in this manner allow economic use of
expensive resources such as storage space, means of transport or
manpower. With better handling of the material the quality of the
material will be increased, because damages can be prevented with
optimization of the logistic and the warehouse management.