Logistics centre uses in-house solutions

The old saying "The cobbler always wears the worst shoes" does not apply to the HARTING Technology Group. The company’s own EDC logistics center in Espelkamp finds it only natural to use in-house solutions to supply customers quickly, error-free and in fully-automated fashion. Orders can be shipped the same day they are received. The 20-meter-high rack warehouse offers space for some 7,000 pallets and 120,000 containers. A full 2,000 containers can be stored and retrieved every hour, and up to 10,000 parcels are sent daily. The use of in-house technology brings several simultaneous advantages.

It was already clear during the planning stage for the EDC that, when it came to warehousing technology, HARTING had a desire to use the same products for warehousing, order picking and loading that it sells to customers. This was a strategic decision that offers advantages: testing one's own solutions in real conditions and under day-to-day stresses provides new impulses for quality and drives innovation. It also moves the technology group even closer to its own customers. However, HARTING primarily uses the EDC to meet customers’ requests for fast and punctual deliveries, nationally as well as internationally.

The HARTING MICA® has been discontinued. Read more here.

Error-free picking

The HARTING Ha-VIS RF-R 300 UHF RFID readers comprise the robust Auto-ID technology for "ants" and forklifts. Standard vehicles are optimised for the automatic reading process with the aid of the MICA®, HARTING's Edge Computing System. HARTING not only offers retrofit concepts to its customers, but also uses them in-house.

To uniquely assign pallets and goods, the two units are "married" by means of RFID. This ensures that a forklift driver picks up the correct pallet with the goods that correspond to his transport order. The storage location is simultaneously identified by RFID transponders in the floor. This avoids picking errors, and the technology rules out unloading outside of designated storage bins.

Loaded quickly and correctly

When the forklift driver moves a consignment in the direction of the loading location and the lorry, this movement is once again compared with the transport order via the RFID transponders embedded in the floor. This ensures that the goods go to the right lorry, and avoids incorrect deliveries that can result in annoyed customers.

HARTING RFID was terminated. Read more about it here.

Local RFID fields in the floor

In the EDC logistics center, the decision was made against the classic RFID gate solution in favour of local, spatially strongly demarcated RFID reading zones in the floor. RFID readers mounted on the forklift communicate with RFID transponders embedded in the floor and ensure that pallets are parked in the designated loading zone. The HARTING UHF RFID readers are designed for robust storage environments and are reliable in everyday use. The fully automatic verification processes are efficient, error-free and accelerate the delivery of goods to the customer.

Summary:

Customer centricity can have many facets. Using one’s own products within in-house production or logistics enables one to actively take advantage of the opportunity for constant quality improvement and new product ideas.

Future-ready: