Flying support on the ground

Digital help from an unusual perspective enables voestalpine Automotive Components Bunschoten to make more effective use of the highly frequented storage areas for press tools.

In a warehouse covering a good three hectares with 8,000 press tools, it is not easy to keep track of everything. This is the challenge that the voestalpine site in Bunschoten faces. The expansion of production means more tools need to be stored and made available on time.

Warehouse section from drone viewpoint: 8,000 tools from 60 x 60 cm to 2.6 x 4.5 m.

Digital check

Agricultural land on one side, commercial enterprises on the other, and behind, the company’s production halls—there is limited storage space for the press tools, which usually weigh tons. And with four stacked on top of each other, the third dimension is pretty much fully utilized. In this extraordinary situation, voestalpine Automotive Bunschoten turned to an unconventional solution: In order to find out how and where the space could be used better, a specialist company have been engaged to have the warehouse recorded by drone and processed the 3D data for virtual reality programs.

Virtual warehouse maintenance

The flying support lasted only a few hours, then the measured data could be transferred to the program and processed. The result was fascinating. Equipped with VR glasses, you now have an overview of the stock. You can “walk” through the aisles in all directions, check the arrangement of the tool stacks in detail—and above all locate and measure gaps in the warehouse rows. The virtual tool tour thus opens up many opportunities to optimize the warehouse:

• a better overview and
• the ability to use the available space even more efficiently in the future.

Glasses for effectiveness—a virtual 3D image helps Rubert Dröge check the availability of space in the tool warehouse.

Even now, the experts at Bunschoten expect that their digitally optimized planning will result in a 5% increase in storage space—more than 100 additional tools.

At voestalpine Automotive Components Bunschoten and elsewhere, there are certainly further reserves that can be tapped in this intelligent, time-saving way.

Rubert Dröge digitally oriented to the “real” warehouse.