In keeping with the theme of the special issue "Retrofit & Maintenance", the "Technical Logistics" editorial team spoke to retrofit specialists Remo Cueni and Klaus Jäger from Stöcklin Logistik AG in an interview about the maintenance and servicing of logistics systems.
TL Editorial Team: Mr. Cueni, the topics of maintenance and servicing of logistics systems are becoming increasingly important. Also with regard to their sustainability. How do the retrofit experts at Stöcklin Logistik AG in Switzerland deal with this?
We are currently being approached by many old and new customers with outdated warehouse systems who want to bring their existing systems back up to the latest state of the art. In order to remain competitive and future-proof on the market, they want to achieve more efficient and low-maintenance use and high availability of their systems through a system retrofit. Due to the explosion in energy costs, the focus is always on significantly higher energy efficiency.
Mr. Jäger, in terms of sustainability, where can you make the most efficient savings?
Klaus Jäger: A first step is new intelligent control technology and IT, which enable the system to run more efficiently again and thus save up to half the energy. This includes new energy storage and energy recovery modules in the motor control system and intelligent coordination of movements and travel, which can save up to 50 percent energy. For example, when the machine is at rest for a longer period of time and then automatically goes into eco-sleep mode. The resulting reduction in dynamics makes a lasting contribution to further minimizing mechanical wear. Because if the dynamics are not constantly required, the machine does not always have to drive at full throttle at 200 km/h on the highway if it has the whole day to arrive.
Remo Cueni: An increase in storage capacity with the same space requirement also saves money in the long term. For example, in a modernization project in Switzerland, we are currently planning a double-deep racking warehouse on the area of the previous single-aisle, single-deep warehouse. This will enable 30 percent more storage capacity and three to four times more output to be achieved in future. It also eliminates the need for a new building. By continuing to use all the racking, the building and the functioning infrastructure, sustainable savings will be achieved. This includes the energy-intensive production of new steel, which is no longer necessary thanks to the continued use of the racking technology. All the advantages are now bundled in just one investment.
Why did you decide to work as a specialist in this field?
Klaus Jäger: Retrofitting is more challenging for me because no two systems are the same, so it's always exciting. In addition, the customer contact is much closer and sometimes very cooperative, especially during the "operation on the running heart". As a retrofit specialist, you also have an advisory role. A customer often calls us and just wants the electrics modernized, for example. Even then, we find out what is actually needed and what offers sustainable, future-oriented added value for the customer.
Remo Cueni: The special solutions developed together with the customer with a focus on cost and energy efficiency are also interesting. What can be recycled and what really needs to be newly integrated. And so it is always important to find the solution with the greatest benefit for the customer.
Klaus Jäger: Sometimes the customer wants to expand their warehouse with additional buildings. As was the case with our customer Bell, for example, where we were commissioned to "make the existing facilities fit again". During the modernization, further requirements for expansion were added, and so a new warehouse was also planned. This warehouse has now been successfully in operation since the end of last year. The expansion provided the customer with an innovative overall solution to strengthen its competitiveness in a future-proof and sustainable manner.
Mr. Jäger, Mr. Cueni, thank you very much for the interview.
What are the particular challenges of modernization?
Klaus Jäger: Many things have to be solved on a situational basis. Reducing downtime to a minimum requires a high degree of flexibility, experience, available technology and transparent, continuous communication. There is no such thing as a zero-eight-fifteen plant; each one is special due to its location, its history, its products and its existing infrastructure. This requires us to have a cross-process understanding and a detailed survey of individual customer requirements and needs.
Which competencies of Stöcklin Logistik AG are advantageous for the modernization?
Klaus Jäger: Regardless of the previous product supplier, we can give almost any system a future-oriented second life thanks to our modularized conversion concepts. This is because we have decades of experience and manufacture or offer almost everything from our own production. From intelligent control systems and software development to warehouse and pallet technology and shelving, everything is developed and manufactured here in Laufen.
We have short distances, especially for customers from Switzerland and our neighboring countries, such as Germany. And in our workshop, we can quickly and flexibly make adjustments for the customer if, for example, something unforeseen happens. This was a decisive advantage, especially during the delivery bottlenecks and challenges posed by corona. We were able to successfully complete almost all projects during the pandemic without any delays.
In addition, our in-depth manufacturing expertise and our own production facilities enable us to implement specific customer solutions with a perfect fit. In this way, we are not only able to offer standard solutions, but also to add the necessary half millimetre, for example.
Remo Cueni: With existing customers, we also have a direct line to the customer through our experienced colleagues in Service. During maintenance, we can see the current condition of the system and can directly assess when a (partial) modernization should really take place, because we know the system inside out.
We have customers that we have been supporting for decades, such as a customer in Switzerland that we have been looking after for 50 years. For our Retrofit Manager André Rawyler, it was one of his first projects back then. We were on site again just recently. It felt like a class reunion where everyone met up again after almost 50 years. The system is still running and the customer continues to order components and we take care of the support.
Klaus Jäger: Long-term partnerships are one of our recipes for success, so an order doesn't end for us when the system is completed, but we continue to support the customer at all times with our services, training and advice.
Are there cases in which a retrofit is no longer possible?
Remo Cueni: We always start with the premise that we can do everything. We have to decide individually how much modernization is required. Even if a completely new system is installed in an existing space, we "retrofit" because we are working with given challenges. There are still the existing interfaces to production, outgoing goods and the testing department that have to be connected unchanged and new processes have to be added and adapted to the new system.
