The implementation of the agile and highly available iFD Warehouse Management System incl. connecting material flow control and AutoStore connection enables a worldwide, fast and efficient service for the customers of heo GmbH.
26 years ago, a passion became a profession for the founders of heo GmbH. Their hobby inspired them to distribute licensed products and pop culture games. Today, the company is one of the leading companies for the distribution of these licensed products. With over 20,000 articles, customers are served worldwide. The product spectrum ranges from trend articles to figurines, toys, merchandising articles, models, textiles, statues, games and their accessories, as well as life-size replicas.
In order to cope with the dynamic and fast-moving environment, heo GmbH modernized its warehouse. For the realization of the project the WMS of iFD including the Autostore module and connecting material flow control was used. The iFD WMS controls the entire flow of goods in the warehouse.
The warehouse management system takes over the administration and control of the distribution warehouse consisting of an AutoStore with 24 storage and retrieval ports as the heart of the warehouse, conveyor technology to connect the AutoStore and the shuttle consolidation warehouse, a pallet area with a total of approx. 5,000 pallet storage locations, a goods receiving area, packing area and the truck loading area with staging areas.
iFD WMS and Autostore connection
The functional scope of the iFD WMS includes the connection of an AutoStore and thus the management of 100,000 bins. The storage of items in undivided and divided bins is based on a calculation based on item dimensions and delivery quantities. The WMS supports picking directly into the shipping carton with Pick&Pack. Additionally, the system tracks the bins to estimate which bin might be accessed the fastest. This enables the implementation of different picking and replenishment strategies. Sequenced picking at ports is also supported.
Connection of the conveyor system
In addition to warehouse management, at heo GmbH the control of conveyor technology is handled by the iFD-WMS. The conveyor system serves as a connection between the AutoStore and the shuttle consolidation warehouse for picking from the AutoStore and the packing department.
Further iFD-WMS functions
Other selected functions of the WMS at heo GmbH include goods receipt against order, distribution of received stock in the warehouse according to a defined and largely configurable warehouse strategy, transport control with complex transfer strategies between the individual warehouse areas, control of manual narrow-aisle stackers, and control of low-lift picking carts in the multi-order process in the pallet area.
The system also supports the packing and loading process and the use of mobile devices on the warehouse floor based on web technologies (operating system independent) for transport and inventory processing.
We would like to thank heo GmbH and our partner AM Logistic Solutions GmbH, which supported us as general contractor in the project, for the trust placed in us and the successful joint project implementation.
