The new frontiers of logistics
Not only space optimization, but greater safety and increased efficiency in handling operations. For their logistics systems, companies today are increasingly asking for storage systems capable of responding to new needs in terms of just-in-time logistics, flow management, traceability, and integration with company systems. In these cases, a response comes from automation, robotics and IOT systems, which have become a strategic part of advanced logistics.
From complete integration with company systems to a new materials traceability model and the use of the IOT with an anthropomorphic robot for depalletising unit loads. With its 56,000-pallet capacity and the ability to manage 70,000 codes, the automatic storage system designed and built by the Wipro Ferretto for ISB Industries is the largest storage system for bearings in Italy and an example of intelligent logistics where interconnection, traceability and scalability are paramount.
A cutting-edge logistics solution
Thanks to continuous investments in the creation of a solid distribution network in Italy and abroad, ISB Industries is a global leader in the supply of bearings and industrial automation components for industry 4.0 customers from a wide range of sectors. To support growth and offer its national and international customers more efficient services, in the last two years the company has made significant investments including the creation of a strategic hub in Rubiera (Emilia Romagna). The storage system has played a fundamental role in this project. In addition to increasing the storage capacity, the system improves the management and traceability of goods and optimizes the flows, speeding up the processing of orders.
A 15-month development program
It was an ambitious challenge for the Wipro Ferretto, a leading operator in the materials storage and handling sector. With over sixty years of experience and continuous investments in research and development, the Vicenza-based company responded by creating, in one year of work preceded by 15 months of careful studies and designs, an automatic self-supporting storage system with a 2,510 square meter footprint.
Designed to handle inbound and outbound flows of pallets including all tasks in between such as picking/placing and depalletising, the new anti-seismic storage system has 7 stacker cranes which can handle up to 135 pallets per hour. The inbound and outbound materials are conveyed by means of a circuit with 5 Fast Ring steering shuttles. In addition, an anthropomorphic robot depalletizes the unit loads automatically at the end of the line.
Not just hardware and software
The job of the Wipro Ferretto was not limited to the design and construction of the storage system, however. The company's technicians supported ISB during all the initial phases, which are essential to make the most of the system's potential: from the supply specifications to the design of a new materials traceability system, from the product packaging specifications to the redefinition of the ABC curves of the storage systems.
The benefits of an automatic storage system 4.0
The Wipro Ferretto responded to the needs of ISB Industries’ new 4.0 logistics hub. The automatic self-supporting storage system built in Rubiera has made it possible to triple the storage capacity and to reorganize materials so that they are stored in an orderly and traceable way, thus making handling operations faster and safer.
