Hurtig, pålidelig & nøjagtig ASRS for Helukabel, Tyskland.

Dematic has more than pleased us as a customer in every respect. The company
was well represented, quickly delivered
solutions, and acted very professionally.
Trial runs started after 13 months – even
sooner than we had initially expected.
The overall cooperation was very successful and has provided high
value for our company.

Helmut Luksch,
Founder, Owner and
Managing Director,
Helukabel

Helukabel’s new DC is delivering a host of benefits
to its 15,000 global customers including:
• Same-day despatch of orders received by 3 pm
• Delivery of prefabricated orders within 48 hours
• 100% inventory control, also for residual lengths
of cable that have been returned to stock.
The order-to-delivery time has been significantly
reduced, with delivery quality also improving.
Helukabel’s supply chain challenge
Many of Helukabel’s customers order cables cut
to length, along with a wide variety of accessories
like tools and cable ties.
The company services 15,000 customers worldwide,
with an annual shipment capacity of around
24,000 tonnes of cable.
The challenge of processing a constantly increasing
number of smaller, more frequent orders, with
an associated rise in manufacturing and logistics
costs per order, required a revision of the company’s
existing supply chain strategy.
Strong business growth had also stretched
Helukabel’s existing distribution capacity to the
limit, resulting in a fractured approach to distribution
with product storage, pallet storage, small accessories
storage, order picking and prefabrication
distributed over several facilities.
New centralised distribution hub
With the dual goals of faster, more efficient order
processing and a simultaneous reduction of costs
per order, Helukabel contracted Dematic to plan a
new logistics solution.
When Dematic began investigating Helukabel’s
logistics requirements, the cable specialist’s existing
strategy was reviewed, including the potential
integration of its cable prefabrication operation.
Huge potential cost savings quickly became obvious
during the development of a new, demandbased
strategy. Dematic devised detailed plans
and prepared the tender documentation for construction
and building works, as well as for the
logistics equipment.

Centralised distribution and production optimisation
Dematic was awarded the contract to implement the
overall concept as general contractor, with the project
including a new high-bay warehouse with 16,000 pallet
locations and seven RapidStore UL machines.
The stacker cranes replenish the bay racks for the
picking of accessories, transport larger lots on pallets
via conveyors directly to picking stations, and also return
cable reels for cut-to-length orders as well as any
remaining reels to the high-bay warehouse.
In order to optimise the available high-bay warehouse
space, the cable reels are stored in an upright/flat
combination.
The production and warehouse building is spread over
two levels, with a vertical conveyor connecting the
goods-in and goods-out level with the storage and
picking level.
This permits a perfect material flow within the smallest
possible footprint. Planning for the DC also took
future expansion options into account and makes the
investment fit for further growth.
Faster, safer, easier to handle
Special handling equipment was jointly developed
with Helukabel in order to simplify and accelerate the
handling of cable reels and, above all, make the process
safer.
This equipment is used in the goods-in area, at picking
stations and in the order consolidation zone. It serves
the purpose of rotating and tilting the cable reels, and
in handling the relocation of reels and cable coils.
This also improves the ergonomic design of the workstations,
helping reduce errors, and eliminates the
potential for damage during handling by forklift trucks.
Special pallet-top frames were designed for the transport
of the cable reels, which ensures safe handling,
even during high-speed transfers by the stacker
cranes.
Quicker order turnaround, and increased throughput
Due to paperless order and despatch processing, the
entire logistics process at Helukabel, from incoming
goods to inventory, production, despatch and invoicing,
is available in a single database.
The core of Helukabel’s IT system is a customised
warehouse management system (WMS), which not
only controls and manages planning, scheduling and
material provision, but also the integration of the production
environment, including the cut-to-order workstations.
The order-based prefabrication is automated all the
way to the selection of the cutting program.
Overall, the WMS interfaces with 40 PC and RF terminals
making all processes transparent, manages
31,000 items, and processes all daily orders. It also
facilitates the automatic forwarding of orders provided
by the host to the production and warehouse environment,
and manages the site’s outdoor storage areas.