Friday, July 08, 2011
Munich – Brau Union, Austria’s biggest brewery group, is optimising its warehouse logistics under the direction of T-Systems. The core of the solution is the integration of the warehouse management system developed by Metasyst with the forklift guidance system and sensor technology supplied by the intralogistics specialists Locanis. The laser-supported technology used by Locanis IntelliGence allows the three-dimensional tracking of goods, which reduces the number of empty runs in the warehouse, cuts down CO2 emissions and allows a more flexible use of storage space. 14 forklift trucks are equipped with the patented Locanis system, which functions without any orientation aids such as GPS and can track the flow of goods to within an accuracy of 20 centimetres.
The logistics centre in Wieselburg has already been successfully equipped with the new solution. Following further fine-tuning measures, Brau Union Österreich AG plans to equip more of its logistics centres with this system. “The new solution in Wieselburg is unique within the Heineken group ”, stresses Helmut Weigl, project manager at Brau Union. An increased turnover volume resulting from an increase in the variety of articles stocked and the relocation of filling capacities made it necessary to come up with ways of utilising storage space even more efficiently. However, according to Weigl the use of Locanis IntelliGence has significantly improved this: “With the aid of the new online visualisation we can obtain a picture of the filling level of the warehouse at any time, and know which forklift is carrying out which transport at any given moment. Moreover, the restructuring of some processes means that necessary information such as stock levels, batches or sell-by dates is available at any time, at the touch of a button.”
With 2,200 employees and a total production output of around 4.7 million hectolitres of beer in 2010, Brau Union is one of the biggest employers within the domestic brewing industry. In addition to the flagship brand Heineken, the portfolio also includes other top brands such as Gösser, Zipfer, Desperados and Schlossgold. The project as a whole, under the direction of T-Systems, successfully achieved Brau Union’s objective which, in addition to optimising processes, was above all to increase productivity and the utilisation of storage areas. “Following a year of development, the system was put into productive operation within a few more months, automating all of Brau Union’s paper-based warehouse processes – this represents a quantum leap in intralogistics. A tight project management was necessary in order to achieve this goal, with the wide variety of tasks involved, within the short time available. Thanks to the professional cooperation and commitment of all involved, as well as the efficiency of Locanis IntelliGence, together with the warehouse management system Metalag, we succeeded in achieving this”, says Orkan Aktuerk, Locanis’s project manager for the Brau Union implementation.
Locanis AG (www.locanis.com) is a leading system supplier in the field of process optimisation and goods tracking. With their patented, automatic goods tracking system Locanis IntelliGence it is for the first time possible to carry out carry out continuous and automatic goods tracking both outdoors and in enclosed spaces. Each goods movement is tracked without the use of transponders or scanning of barcode labels. With this system, 80 per cent of all warehouses can be optimised in such a way that the improvements are reflected both in the group's balance sheet and in the ecological balance. The intralogistics specialist guarantees a Return on Invest (ROI) within 18 months. Coca Cola, Hassia, Radeberger, Brau Union and other “big names” are already achieving competitive advantages using the Locanis system.
For further information, contact: Locanis AG, Münchner Straße 18, 85774 Unterföhring,
Tel.: 089 / 748900-0, fax: 089 / 748900-199, e-mail: info@locanis.com, Web: www.locanis.com
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For more information please contact:
Bettina Wittenberg
089 / 748900-123
presse@locanis.com
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