Thyssenkrupp opens major logistics centre

Thyssenkrupp Schulte, the German steel distribution unit of thyssenkrupp Materials Services, has started operating a new logistics centre in Rotenburg, Lower Saxony.
 
It has invested around €60 million ($72m) in the new logistics site, Kallanish learns from the company. This makes it one of the group’s biggest projects in recent decades and points the way to the future of the materials business, it claims. The entire process chain has a high level of automation and digitisation, and means to serve as a blueprint for other sites in the future.

The layout of the site is aligned with the optimum flow of materials and no longer has to take into account the ideal loading sequence of the trucks, as was previously the case. Driverless transport systems move the goods directly to the truck, which is loaded in bays at ground level, the company explains. The time-consuming process of moving from one loading point to the next in the hall, which was common in the past, is no longer necessary. As a result, several trucks can be dispatched at the same time.

The inhouse-developed IIoT platform – known as “toii” – is the heart of the digital processes at the site. By connecting the plants digitally, data is exchanged directly without any manual intermediate steps. As a result, the materials flow is controlled in line with demand. The centre was completed after around a year of construction, and comprises 36,000m² of warehouse space where around 20,000 tonnes of materials like steel or aluminium can be stored.

Christian Koehl Germany