Jungheinrich builds fully automated logistics centre

Jungheinrich, one of the world's leading suppliers of intralogistics solutions, is building a new, state-of-the-art logistics centre for the Dutch technology company Prodrive Technologies. The new building with over 20.000 square metres of warehouse space is being built near Eindhoven and will be fully operational by autumn 2022. At the heart of the warehouse will be a holistic logistics solution with a fleet of 14 autonomous mobile robots (AMR) and 8 EKX 516ka automated narrow-aisle trucks. All trucks are connected via the Jungheinrich Logistics Interface to the Jungheinrich WCS, which controls the transport movements within the automated system. By combining AMRs in the pre-zone as a connecting element to order picking and AGVs in the racking area, Jungheinrich raises the material flow at Prodrive to a new level of automation. Here, the arculee will supply and remove pallets from the two automated storage areas and transport them in the goods-to-person principle to picking stations, where they are picked manually.

"With the project at Prodrive, we are underlining our expertise in the field of automation solutions. We are particularly pleased that we can rely on the arculee S model of our new Jungheinrich family member arculus for mobile robots," says Dr Markus Heinecker, Vice President Automated Systems AGV at Jungheinrich. Earlier this month, Jungheinrich announced the purchase of Munich-based robotics expert arculus. With the innovative start-up company, Jungheinrich is specifically expanding its automation portfolio and now offers market-leading technologies in the field of autonomous mobile robots. "The demand for AMR is continuously increasing due to strong growth, especially in e-commerce. We can now even better support our customers in achieving their efficiency and sustainability goals through precise and holistic process automation."

For Prodrive, the cooperation on the new warehouse project is a logical step in the long-standing customer relationship. Jungheinrich has been supporting the Dutch company with its intralogistics expertise for many years. Another important criterion in the decision in favour of Jungheinrich for Mark Menting, Global Process Owner Logistics at Prodrive Technologies, is the versatility of the system solution. "Today, flexibility in the supply chain is a decisive criterion for economic success. For us, this means: we have to pick goods faster, more efficiently and without errors. Jungheinrich's automation concept with its mix of innovative robotics and classic AGVs meets all these requirements. It also enables further optimisation at a later date," says Menting.