Automated tray storage offers greater flexibility at NIEHOFF with IGZ as general contractor

As a long-standing, family-run business with a knack for innovation, the NIEHOFF engineering works produces wire-drawing plant for the wire and cable industry. To meet the challenge of future growth, a multi-phase construction project was initiated for a new factory and office premises in Schwabach, whose logistical centre is represented by an automated tray warehouse with over 8,000 storage bins. NIEHOFF decided to bring IGZ onto the project as a general manager overseeing the in-house logistics deliverables.

The groundwork for future success was laid as early as the planning phase: open issues concerning the dimensioning of the automated warehouse were resolved with the experience and planning simulation offered by IGZ (stacker crane layout, loop vs. crosswise travel for carts, buffer lane capacity,…).

To integrate the tray storage and manual storage areas with the in-house logistics serving the production area, IGZ took on the role of general coordinator and system integrator for NIEHOFF. The approach now implemented means the aisles are simple to extend in the future.