Picking unit based on 24-volt rollers increases speed tenfold

From its high-bay warehouse in Germany, Villeroy & Boch offers a complete range of high-quality tableware, kitchen and bathroom products. After installing a new conveyor and picking system using 24-volt motor-driven rollers (MDR), the company has multiplied productivity while minimizing maintenance costs.

The warehouse handles a broad range of products that often require a great deal of care in addition to the speed customers expect. In the new picking unit, tower-high interim storage areas are filled with orders for the picker to fill. Vertical buffer zones are then used to save space. According to Michael Dietzen, who is responsible for the technology used in the distribution warehouse for tableware, throughput was a priority. “The main requirement was to get these products to our customers as quickly as possible,” he says. “With the existing system, the entire process took a lot of time. Thanks to our new system, we have now been able to increase our speed by a factor of approximately 10.”

As opposed to the traditional 400-volt system the company also uses, the MDRs (Interroll, interroll.com) improve pickers’ productivity in a smaller footprint with less energy consumption, downtime and maintenance. The new technology is also suited for retrofitting and can easily be integrated into existing systems or reconfigured as needed, says Dietzen. In some instances, new segments that included 24-volt MDRs for zero-pressure accumulation conveyors were installed in existing systems. Because individual segments or zones can be replaced, they can be modified more easily to improve specific processes and meet new demands.

Since the 24-volt MDRs are only driven when there are goods that need to be transported in a specific zone, the system is quieter, more efficient and requires less maintenance. For example, it took about two hours for two to three people to replace the drives in the 400-volt system, says Dietzen. The same job now takes one person only about half an hour of downtime.