With a great acquisition comes great responsibility. That’s why we didn’t spare any effort for our first project with Jungheinrich: a new, state-of-the-art logistics center for the Dutch company Prodrive Technologies. The new building with over 20.000 square meters of warehouse space is currently under construction near Eindhoven, Netherlands, and will be fully operational by autumn 2022. At the heart of the warehouse will be a holistic logistics solution with a fleet of 14 arculees, our Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR), and eight EKX 516ka automated narrow-aisle Jungheinrich trucks.
A great synergy
The combination of arculus technology and Jungheinrich expertise in the new warehouse sets the perfect precedent for what we can achieve together. All trucks are connected via the Jungheinrich Logistics Interface to the Jungheinrich Warehouse Control System (WCS), which runs the transport movements within the automated interface. By combining AMRs in the pre-zone as a connecting element to order picking and Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) in the racking area, we raise the material flow at Prodrive to a new level of automation. Here, the arculee will supply and remove pallets from the two automated storage areas and transport them in the goods-to-person principle to picking stations, where they are then collected manually.
"With the project at Prodrive, we are underlining our expertise in the field of automation solutions. We are particularly pleased that we can rely on the arculee S model of our new Jungheinrich family member arculus for mobile robots," says Dr. Markus Heinecker, Vice President Automated Systems AGV at Jungheinrich.
The benefits
Prodrive Technologies, founded in 1993, is one of the fastest-growing technology companies in Europe. The Dutch company, which designs and manufactures electronics, software, and mechanics, has had Jungheinrich as a support partner in intralogistics for many years. Therefore, the new warehouse project was a logical step in the long-standing relationship. Another important criterion in the decision in favor of arculus’s and Jungheinrich’s expertise is the versatility of the system solution. Mark Menting, Prodrive’s Global Process Owner Logistics points out that:
“Today, flexibility in the supply chain is a decisive criterion for economic success. For us, this means: we have to pick goods faster, more efficiently, and without errors. Jungheinrich's automation concept with its mix of innovative robotics and classic AGVs meets all these requirements. It also enables further optimization at a later date."
New arculee use case
The innovative pallet use case for the arculees allows for a streamlined and automated pallet flow. With 14 of our AMRs operating at the new warehouse, Prodrive will be able to count on an optimized infrastructure through automatic stacking of EPAL standard pallets with a size of 800X1200mm. The result: a safer and more efficient workflow that increases productivity.
