BHS Corrugated is investing at its headquarters. By mid 2023, a state-of-the-art logistics center for manufacturing/assembly supply and global spare parts provision will be built near the plant site. Including the building and technical equipment , the investment amounts to around 40 million euros. The contract for the complete logistics equipment in the new logistics center was awarded to IGZ Automation from Falkenberg and thus also remains in the northern Upper Palatinate.
BHS Corrugated is the leading solution provider for the corrugated board industry. BHS Corrugated offers its customers complete system solutions from A to Z, which also includes services for the complete life cycle of a corrugator. In order to be able to meet the recent strong demand for such system solutions in the future, the "hidden champion" decided to build an automated logistics center in order to further increase the quality of production supply and the provision of maintenance and spare parts. "Corrugators from BHS Corrugated sometimes run around the clock. Downtimes thus have an immediate effect on productivity. With our own logistics center, we want to make global supply even more reliable and further increase the productivity of corrugated board plants around the globe," explains Alexander Walberer, the person responsible for the project at BHS Corrugated.
Largest logistics investment is a milestone for BHS Corrugated
With a total volume of around 40 million euros, the new building represents BHS Corrugated's largest single logistics investment to date. The sum is being invested in an automated small parts warehouse, which can accommodate several 10,000 containers, as well as in other storage areas, where goods stored on pallets, cables or even long parts are stored and retrieved by warehouse staff using forklifts. Lars Engel, Managing Director of BHS Corrugated, states: "This is another important milestone for BHS Corrugated, which will ultimately benefit our customers. In addition, with this project we are gearing our logistics to the future and securing our Weiherhammer site. Among other things, through additional forces that we will need for our logistics center."
General contractor IGZ supplies everything from a single source
This location guarantee applies equally to the SAP engineers of the project partner IGZ. As the market leader for logistics projects in conjunction with SAP software, IGZ had applied to BHS Corrugated as general contractor for project implementation from a single source. The Falkenberg-based company was able to score points with a coherent logistics concept as well as its own innovative strength and ultimately assert itself in the competition. "A robotics solution that we will implement for BHS Corrugated is worthy of particular mention. It makes it possible to automatically remove parts from storage containers and make them available for assembly or spare parts shipping," explains IGZ Managing Director Alfred Meyer. This solution, which is already being used by other IGZ customers, received the German Innovation Award in 2021.
Proven regional alliances
In Falkenberg, which is only about 40 kilometers away from Weiherhammer, IGZ now takes over the responsibility for the realization of the entire warehouse technology in the new logistics center after a successful concept and planning phase. In addition to steel rack construction, the automatic stacker cranes, and the conveyor system for cartons and containers, IGZ is also supplying the entire "brain" of the facility. This consists of the SAP software EWM, which is configured precisely for BHS Corrugated, for managing inventories and controlling all warehouse processes, as well as the entire software for controlling the warehouse technology. In addition, IGZ will later ensure the service and maintenance of the system. "We are very pleased to be able to realize this project together with BHS Corrugated and thus once again gain a strong partner from the region," says Alfred Meyer. "A project in the home country benefits not least our project managers, developers and skilled workers." Projects close to home or running as far as possible in German-speaking countries should also appear attractive to future IGZ company members, because IGZ is also continuing on its growth course. Especially because digitized and automated solutions are in massive demand. The order books remain full.
