Into the future with a new high-bay warehouse
Start of construction in September
The KEB Automation headquarters is being further expanded. "The investment in a new high-bay warehouse in Barntrup underlines the importance of the company headquarters as a key hub within the KEB Automation Group," says Managing Director Ralf Lutter. "With a volume of over 14 million euros, it is the largest single investment for us in the company's history." During the next 18 months, the warehouse will be built on the former parking lot. "With dimensions of 45x70x25 metres [wide/depth/height], the building also offers enormous potential for us to continue our growth in the future," explains Lutter.
When planning the new warehouse, the focus was on achieving the highest possible degree of automation while at the same time providing the best possible working ergonomics. Thus – as is usual in modern warehouses – the transports from the individual racking locations to the picking zone are fully automated. "At the order-picking locations, work is carried out directly on the conveyor system without removing the load carriers from the conveyor system. Full and empty load carriers are served just-in-time at the workstation, ready-packed pallets are removed and delivered to the driverless transport system," reports Phillip Hannesen (Project Manager Production) about the latest technical standards in the warehouse. In the order-picking area, the transport of pallets by pallet trucks or forklifts is completely eliminated. In the first stage, the warehouse has 58,000 container spaces and 8,800 pallet spaces. "However, we still have enough reserve planned to significantly increase these numbers again in further stages."
Florian Brandstetter, architect of the building, adds, "The aim was to develop a cantilevered high-bay warehouse cube of over 45 metres, which allows for flexible and changeable racking positions in the hall area." Together with the new sprinkler tank under the warehouse building, KEB is also well prepared for future building expansions, the architect continues. Completion is scheduled for spring 2023. "Once the outer shell is in place, we can work inside regardless of the weather and start with the logistics facilities early," says Brandstetter.
Next to the high-bay warehouse, another new building is being constructed for incoming goods with three loading ramps. Outgoing goods will in future be handled via the existing, adjacent warehouse.
We will follow the construction regularly and keep you informed here.
