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Continental: Rock-Solid Warehouse Logistics

Continental has a long tradition in automotive, and it supplies a wide range of components for major global brands. Their Czech plant in Brandýs nad Labem supplies interior electronics – car radios, multimedia systems, dashboard instruments, touch displays for centre consoles, air conditioning control panels, eCall systems and electronic control units. Since 2017, their new warehousing hall has let them concentrate all of their logistics processes into one place. Its operations are fully paperless – operators see all information on their tablet or scanner. Its Warehouse Management System (WMS) handles the receipt and storage of up to 1,500 materials shipments daily. It was put in place due to the need to cover processes that the corporate SAP ERP template did not contain, while also fully respecting the corporation’s rules and demands. The main advantage of this solution is flexibility and thus swifter responses to customer requirements. The new WMS by Aimtec is not just a stock management tool; it also serves for integrating multiple technologies and automating warehouse processes.

Continental’s requirements

The main functions of DCIxWMS

In Brandýs nad Labem, Continental needed rock-solid system support for the differences and the differing feature sets that comprise its competitive advantage. They thus opted for an external system that could cover processes that are not part of the corporate SAP template – while still respecting corporate requirements for data in their ERP system. DCIxWMS serves as their flexible layer: it lets Continental respond more quickly to customer requests and configure the system based on their current logistics needs. Continental’s WMS didn’t have to be built from scratch; even with just the standard feature set in DCIx, the Brandýs nad Labem team had solutions for many of the specifics they grapple with at their plant.

Warehousing strategy

A put-away strategy covers their storage of raw materials, semi-finished goods and finished goods. It must take several different factors into account. These include for example a stock item’s packaging type, weight and turnover, as well as any special customer requirements for the storing of finished goods separately from other goods. Balanced warehouse utilisation and the printing of labels with a maximum of information for items’ journies through manufacturing are of course also supported.

Thus in practice the system determines warehouse positions in advance and assigns each handling unit a unique ID. The operator at the materials receipt point prints out a label and pairs it with the supplier label. During put-away, this system also ensures risk diversification for future picking – the same item is placed into multiple aisles so as to prevent delays.

During picking, DCIxWMS ensures a lean process for supplying the production hall, including usage balancing for VNA (Very Narrow Aisle) trucks. The new WMS also enables on-the-fly stocktaking and the maintaining of a precise register for the consignment warehouse. And since we’re talking about automotive here, traceability down to the level of individual handling units is a natural.

Forklift integration and installation of terminals

In the project’s second phase, the WMS was integrated with the handling technologies – semi-automatic, inductive-guided trucks from Jungheinrich, and Zebra VC80 touch terminals, each displaying a work queue. The system ensures balanced utilisation of the forklifts navigated to aisle positions, with the operator simply defining which side of the aisle the fork should point toward.

During work queue generation, WMS sorts picking requests so as to provide optimal forklift routing and prevent unneeded travel. But meanwhile, it is also possible to alter priorities within the work queue, providing faster responses to urgent requests from manufacturing. Every warehouse movement is automatically integrated with SAP ERP at the storage-position level.

Reporting

Reporting for warehouse operators and management is another important feature set in DCIxWMS. These reports show e.g. requests for put-away and picking or for replenishment of the production hall. Other reports are prepared for the warehouse management – for example a listing of the reasons why issue slips were not fulfilled. Users enter them on a terminal, and the system processes them for further analysis.

“DCIx has enabled us to work more efficiently – we can respond more flexibly to changing requirements, our operators can work more quickly, and we have clearer processes; we’ve even eliminated some interim operations in release to manufacturing.

Aimtec helped us to design a solution that’s integrated with our SAP ERP system and yet gives us the flexibility we need for our specific processes. They customised the system for us and delivered the entire project within the required deadline and budget, thus confirming their status as a professional partner.” Miloš Havlíček, Processes and Tools Manager at Continental.

For more information, visit: https://www.aimtecglobal.com/en/

What can DCIxWMS do: https://www.aimtecglobal.com/en/dcixwms/

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