DENSO THERMAL SYSTEM - AUTOMATED SELF-SUPPORTING WAREHOUSE

DENSO Thermal Systems S.p.A. designs, develops, manufactures and sells air conditioning systems, engine cooling systems, heat exchangers, radiators and compressors for cars and commercial and industrial vehicles supplying the most important global vehicle manufacturers.
The company is part of the Japanese Group DENSO, one of the largest automotive components companies in the world, with a turnover of over 40 billion dollars and about 120,000 employees. 

In Italy, DENSO TS has three plants, the most important is the one of Poirino where about 1,200 people work. As part of this production site with a surface of 57,000 square meters the new headquarters of the Aftermarket division is under construction: currently located in Carmagnola and totally dedicated to the distribution of components on the independent market of spare parts.

The operational needs of this unit, that will supply the entire European market, are extremely peculiar and set the quality and the speed of the customer service in the first place. DENSO TS, by means of the experience of Simcohas therefore decided to start a project for the organization of the new Distribution Center logistics, aimed at satisfying the significant requirements of speed, accuracy, selectivity and, of course, of the overall efficiency of the plant.

Simco Consultingwas initially involved in the supplier selection process, with the drafting of specific technical and user requirements, contacting material handling suppliers, collection of bids and their related tabulation and assisting in commercial negotiations. After that, Simco Consulting was also in charge of the implementation assistance, developing the activities of: detailed design and finalization of the layout of the plant (in co-operation with Denso team), supervision of the dynamic simulation for the verification of the plant performance, project management, assistance to testing and start-up.

The solution involves the construction of a self-supporting automated warehouse (sizes: 90x28x26 h. meters overall) divided into two distinct areas:/p>

pallet area for the storage of unpacked components and packaging material on double-deep racking served by two bi-column stacker cranes with single fork and a load capacity of 500 kg.
miniload for the storage of finished products on shelves equipped with continuous top and served by three multi-forklift cranes transporting load units of sizes between 225x310 mm and 720x1,200 mm (W x D).

This solution allows you to store and efficiently handle the unpacked product to be sent to the packaging department according to the order needs or to sales forecasts. Once packed, the finished product with DENSO TS brand is sent directly and automatically from the packaging lines to the shelves thanks to a dedicated conveyor system and to the light load stacker cranes, able to handle the boxes individually, in pairs or stocked in Odette-like plastic boxes.

At the exit, the light stacker cranes pick up the customer orders according to pre-set sequences (at first the heavy boxes, then the light boxes and lastly the Odette-like cassettes), the load units are sent to the workbenches (see diagram aside) where the operators only have to proceed to palletizing. The complexity of the solution to be provided required the realization of a dynamic simulation to verify that the project showed no problems connected to the configuration of the head conveyors (size of the buffer stock, switching capacity, etc.) or to operation strategies (order launching mode, picking and housing sequences, machine work balancing, etc.).

The solution designed for DENSO TS is a clear example of how to develop an "automatic picking" project where operation speed, efficiency, safety and ergonomics are matched together.

Simco Consulting with its contribution of expertise and experience not only identified the best solution for the operational issues related to the product distribution of the Client, but also implemented it, fostering the integration of the logistics issues with those from other disciplines (urban planning, classical engineering, fire prevention etc.) and keeping the budget and the implementation time under control.