28.05.2008
Algol Technics to supply Onninen´s new long steel products warehouse
Algol Technics will deliver an automated warehouse for long steel products toOnninen Oys new steel service centre, which will be completed in the Merve
Industrial Area in Hattula, Finland in summer 2009. This will be a turnkey
delivery that also includes an option for a future extension. Algol Technics
has also signed an agreement for servicing the equipment and systems that it is
supplying.
The new warehouse for long products will be a fully automated complex whose
control and management systems will be connected to the companys production
planning system. The solutions advanced technology will significantly enhance
the productivity of the warehouse compared to traditional warehouses. It will
make warehousing processes and management more efficient, simplify material
flows and accelerate the processing of orders. At the same time the system,
which is tailored especially for its operating environment, will optimise space
utilisation within the warehouse. The installations will take place in the
first half of 2009.
The key components of the package include the racks and warehousing cassettes,
the high-bay stacker, the control and management system, feed and collection
stations for products, the conveyor system and two radio-controlled overhead
travelling cranes, one of which will be equipped with a lifting magnet and the
other with two lift trucks.
Advanced technology increases productivity
Long steel products are typically steel rods and profiles. The new solution
allows them to be warehoused in open steel cassettes, almost 2500 of which can
fit in the warehouses racks. The cassettes come in two lengths, 6.5 metres and
9.5 metres, and they can carry several different product types. The contents of
the cassettes are registered by computer to the warehouse stock using special
feed stations, from where a high-bay stacker automatically transfers them to
the right shelf. The handling capacity of the high-bay stacker is 44 cassettes
per hour.
When retrieving products from the warehouse, the collection stations computer
transmits the customers order information to the high-bay stacker, which
retrieves the correct cassettes from the shelves. The cranes then transfer the
products from the cassettes into bundling, then from the bundling machine to
the conveyors, which carry them to the dispatch area where they are loaded for
transportation or to the sawing area for further processing into specific
lengths before delivery.
Algol Technics is supplying the warehousing system together with Swiss partner
Fehr, which has decades of experience in warehousing techniques, especially for
long products. Within Algol Technics the delivery and installation work is
being handled by a team consisting of Aimo Leppinen, director of the Products
Division, Product Manager Juha Rehakka and Project Manager Jarno Björk.
Servicing for the equipment and systems falls under the responsibility of Marko
Väänänen, director of the Operating Reliability Services Division.
Onninen has announced that once its new steel service centre is completed, it
will centralise its steel products and services in Hattula. One of Onninens
current steel warehouses has been located at Algols site in Espoo since 2003,
when the commercial steel operations of Algols steel division transferred to
Onninen.