Dense metal storage upgraded

At Haver & Boecker, round and flat bar, tube, hollow section and extrusion in numerous sizes and materials are held on 1,037 shelves of a six-metre-high, automated, cantilever bar storage system. 

Work preparation manager Christian Hinse, explains: “As a manufacturer of special machinery, we deal with an extremely wide variety of materials, but only in very small batch sizes. Just under one-third of the parts we saw are one-offs and overall, 90% of batches are between one and ten.

“Parts processed are primarily steel and stainless steel, but also aluminium and other metals. This requires a high degree of flexibility and efficiency on both the organisational and technical sides.”

As the steel structure of the bar storage system was still in near perfect condition, replacement was unnecessary. However, during the project a second, separate storage area was removed, so KASTO expanded the cantilever storage system by 60 cassette spaces to accommodate the additional long stock.

It was also necessary to modernise the operating gantry crane (OGC) that stores and retrieves the material, which is up to 6.5 metres in length. KASTO replaced the outdated control cabinets, energy supply system and measuring and control technology, as well as the crane's hoisting and traversing motors. They additionally replaced the old PLC with a SIMATIC S7 controller.

Modernisation of the OGC doubled its speed from 30 to 60 metres per minute. A KASTOlogic system is now used for warehouse management and is connected to the ERP system, greatly speeding and streamlining the processing of sawing orders.

The upgrade took place in autumn 2020, during ongoing operation of the facility and in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Hinse enthused: “I can only take my hat off to KASTO's project management team. Despite the adverse circumstances, we were able to maintain a tight work schedule without any bottlenecks in our production.”

For the transitional phase, Haver & Boecker set up a temporary sawing area with provisional manual storage. Up to 15 KASTO employees were in the facility at any given time, enabling the new system to be commissioned in just three weeks. Afterwards, service technicians were on-site to instruct the customer's staff.

For more information, www.kasto.com