KRAL GmbH is one of the leading international specialists for screw pumps and flow metering technology. The family business, based in Lustenau, Vorarlberg, supplies customers all around the world, predominantly in the marine, power generation, oil & gas, mechanical engineering and chemical industry sectors. To strengthen its innovation and competitive capability in international markets, our client decided to invest in the automation and digitalization of the company.
Full automation and digitalization of all processes and procedures
The project kicked off in February 2018 and was split into various sub-projects over a period of 18 months. In implementing the project, KRAL made a conscious decision to engage its own employees as well as suppliers from the region.
In order to transform KRAL GmbH into one of the leading automated and digitised SMEs in the mechanical engineering sector in Vorarlberg, implementation within the specified period covered the following project scope:
- Updating the existing ERP system
- Construction of a new small parts warehouse
- Servus driverless transport system
- MIA Warehouse Management System (WMS)
- Manufacturing machinery
- Test bench
- Assembly workstations
- Production planning system
We provided support to the client during definition of the new logistical processes and were responsible for drawing up the requirements specification. Customer-specific processes were visually represented in process workshops using interactive GUI prototypes. This approach allowed customer feedback to flow into product development at a very early stage. Rapid comprehension by all those involved and short decision making paths contributed to the success of project implementation.
New warehouse management system for all logistics processes
The overall project was implemented while still carrying on day-to-day business with the existing configuration and infrastructure. As a result, it was not necessary for KRAL to re-schedule delivery of any customer orders.
Mobile devices were put into service in the manual storage areas. Our mobile solution, MIA Mobile, ensured that all work processes could be improved and speeded up. The MIA I-Point Touch was used to map the processes at the stations of the Servus system. The simple and intuitive interface of our WMS shortened the period of familiarisation for employees and greatly assisted in dissolving any initial reservations.
To ensure the interconnect between the transport system and the WMS operated properly, the existing ERP system had to be completely upgraded. After making the necessary adjustments, the interface could be rapidly set up and stabilised without major delays.
A project set for the future
This project has laid the foundation that enables further upgrades in digitalization and automation to be carried out at KRAL GmbH. The project is an essential building block for continued and future success. Since the changeover, throughput times have been reduced by 50%.
And for this successful regional project KRAL GmbH has been awarded the 2020 Logistics Prize. The significantly reduced production throughput time, to improve the reaction time to the market, was the decisive factor for the panel of judges.
Factbox
- Number of employees on the MIA/Servus system: 20
- Number of picking positions per day: about 1010
- System performance (storage and retrieval operations /h): about 2539 within 8 h calculated 318 transportations/h
- Number of storage positions: 9500
- 22 roboter Arcs
