H+H Herrmann + Hieber GmbH

Deutz AG entrusts H+H with the relocation of its fully automatic good reception system

Contract announcement, January 2012. Deutz AG in Cologne has awarded Hermann + Hieber the contract for the relocation of the fully automated goods reception and dispatch system at its engine assembly plant, which was originally supplied in 2005. This contract continues a collaboration between the two companies which has already lasted many years. In this case the changes serve the purpose of making additional production space available.

In Shed 41 at Deutz AG in Cologne diesel engines are assembled on a number of assembly lines. The engines cover a broad range of powers and are built in a total of several thousand different variants, sometimes in batch sizes of 1. The parts required for this are supplied in prescribed containers. The transfer station is designed in the manner of a lock where the vehicle docks. The load – grid-type pallets or similar– is transferred automatically from a semitrailer (roll-on / roll-off principle) into the goods reception area, automatically checked, and booked into the system. At the clearing end this sequence is repeated in reverse.

For reasons of space the goods-in and goods-out area must now be rearranged by rotating it through 90°. As the original supplier of the entire unit H+H will dismantle the whole system and rebuild it again in its new orientation – in part equipped with new functions and functional sequences.

This work has to be completed over a period of only three working weeks, including the re-start of operations. The unusually tight deadline demands detailed planning of the entire working sequence, all the more so since the agreed deadlines are subject to over-run penalties.