"We believe in the future of paper because we know its infinite potential." Reflex stands for high-quality raw materials, traditional papermaking craftsmanship and innovative technologies. At the Reflex mill in Düren, Germany, excellent fine papers have been produced from these ingredients for more than 160 years. In order to be able to act as a logistics service provider for paper products of other companies in addition to its own logistics, Reflex has put an automated high-bay warehouse into operation at the Düren site.
In the course of modernizing its high-bay warehouse, Reflex relies on the implementation of a new warehouse management system and has deliberately chosen the Warehouse Management System SuPCIS-L8 from S&P Computersysteme GmbH for this purpose. The WMS SuPCIS-L8 takes over the entire control of the intralogistic processes in the Reflex distribution center - from goods receipt or the transfer of goods from the production buffer, to storage, supply and disposal of the picking zone with shipping label printing, to loading scanning. In addition, the new warehouse management system enables integration with the Microsoft Dynamics NAV ERP system, making information on order progress and the current inventory situation available in real time.
With the implementation of the WMS SuPCIS-L8, a desirable goal for many companies has become reality for Reflex: future-oriented and efficient logistics. In the process, the newly introduced warehouse management system supports and digitalises the existing processes at Reflex. The combination of a high proportion of configured standard processes with selectively applied customised solutions ensure the necessary efficiency and high user-friendliness.
"Our custom-fit software solution maps all of Reflex's requirements and enables the paper manufacturer to react flexibly to market demands. For me, it is always a pleasure to be able to witness on site how the interaction between man and machine can be designed with software," says Bodo Nobbe, senior project manager at S&P.
Fromgoods receipt to loading scanning
Inproduction, the pallets are equipped with a pallet label and barcode. In this step, the pallets are transmitted by Navision to the WMS, where seamless tracking already begins with the subsequent forklift transport. The pallet information is checked and reported to the packing lane of a specialized packing machine in the paper production. The control of the packing lane with the different stretch programs stored in the article master is done by the WMS. By means of the transport management integrated in SuPCIS-L8, transport order assignments are then initiated so that the pallets can be conveyed to the storage and retrieval machines (SRM) via the integrated conveyor system and stored there. The 6-aisle high-bay warehouse (HRL) provides sufficient capacity for the paper manufacturer's wide range of products and large inventory quantities.
Fastand efficient
Themanually operated warehouse and functional areas are also managed by the WMS and thus seamlessly integrated into the logistics processes. In Reflex's warehouse, goods are picked directly on a pallet that is barcoded from the roll - this means that the goods do not have to be repacked afterwards. On the mobile terminals, the employees are shown the individual picking orders, customer-related orders as well as orders without direct customer reference in the order of the scheduled processing dates and priorities. Employees can independently decide and coordinate how many picks are to be picked onto a target pallet. After successful processing of the orders the labeling of the pallets takes place, which are assigned afterwards either as commodity with customer reference to the packing line or as stock commodity without customer reference for the storage into the HRL transported or directly into a likewise administered block storage, which serves as dispatch buffer. SuPCIS-L8 also optimizes the processes here and already gives the employee the target storage location.
The WMS provides support through automatic replenishment logic. Thus, the stocks for picking are automatically requested from the high-bay warehouse and block storage to the picking area via replenishment orders. Here, too, the storage bin search for storage in the picking area is carried out automatically by the WMS. In addition, SuPCIS-L8 offers the paper manufacturer important inventory and analysis options in order to have a complete and real-time updated overview of the stocks. The strategies and statistical evaluations in the warehouse are used to optimize the logistical processes in the long term as well.
Facingthe future with flexibility and new business fields
TheSuPCIS-L8 software solution from S&P Computersysteme GmbH enables increased efficiency, performance and flexibility of the logistics processes in Reflex's warehouse. Furthermore, by means of multi-client capability of the new WMS, the logistics of a partner company could already be implemented with the help of standardized SAP integration, which greatly optimizes the utilization. "With the modernization of our high-bay warehouse and the implementation of the SuPCIS-L8 warehouse management software, we have found a system that knows how to manage our logistics in the long term and maps an essential building block for Reflex's future viability. The cooperation between the companies involved went smoothly. Thanks to the seamless integration of SuPCIS-L8 into our existing system landscape, our logistics are ideally positioned to meet our customers' requirements in the future," says Carsten Gösch, Logistics Manager at Reflex.
"At this point, we would also like to particularly emphasize the professional planning and support of the project by the project manager at the time, Norbert Schröter. We thank him for the cooperative partnership and great team performance!"
AboutS&P Computersysteme GmbH:
S&Phas been creating host computer solutions in the field of in-plant logistics since 1985. From planning to commissioning, solutions in all automation levels from document-controlled manual warehouses to forklift warehouses with mobile data acquisition up to very complex fully automated logistics centers have been realized in about 150 projects. S&P serves customers at home and abroad from a wide range of sectors in industry and trade, from medium-sized businesses to large corporations, who rely on reliable service around the clock, 365 days a year. As a partner of Lenovo (servers), Oracle (databases), Zebra (AutoID: mobile computers and printers) and Advantech DLoG (forklift and industrial PCs), MiR (AGVs), KBS (pick-by-light), S&P supplies all components of information logistics as a general contractor on request.
