Based in Bremen, AMCO Metall Service stocks large quantities of aluminium, copper, brass and bronze in its 55,000 sq m facility and delivers 25,000 tonnes annually to customers mainly in the plant building, metal processing, construction, transportation and shipbuilding sectors. The German family firm has 270 employees and an annual turnover of around €100m.
To meet customer demands, AMCO Metall Service has a particularly wide range of material in stock – over 7000 tonnes, in fact – guaranteeing excellent availability of goods. The company supplies all parts tailored to needs and flexibly adjusts to suit batch sizes.
Increasing demand for cut-to-size material meant that AMCO’s service centre for semi-finished materials was running out of space. So, to streamline efficiency for holding and picking material, including billets and plate, the company installed a Unigrip 3.0 automated, honeycomb-type cassette storage system. The Unigrip 3.0 system was built by Kasto, located some 600 km further south in Achern. Since then, AMCO has enjoyed fast access to its materials, machined parts and remnants, and has consequently increased its pre-machining and order picking productivity.
Jan Hendrik Schmidt, managing director of AMCO says: “Growth in this area of our business presented us with a challenge. We needed additional storage space to expand, and wanted to renew our conventional racking system.
“The new solution had to ensure high availability of metals and make efficient use of the available space,” he adds. “Sawing to length, three- to five-axis prismatic machining and picking also had to be interlinked with the system. To increase profitability, we were keen to avoid damage to material caused by handling and storage, and we also wanted to reduce order picking costs.”
kasto was already a supplier to AMCO, having manufactured and delivered in 2013 a Unicompact 3.0 long-goods storage system that has proved successful in operation.
Schmidt says: “Kasto had particular advantages, notably the impressive degree of added value they offered compared with competitors, ranging from software development to the supply of spares. Existing, proven interfaces ensured simple integration into our ERP system, and Kasto’s employees gave us competent advice before we placed the order.”
The Unigrip 3.0 industrial store in Bremen has 1365 storage locations and is 68 m long, over 21 m wide and 6.7 m in height. Five types of cassette, from 6.5 to 6.7 m long and 1.6 m wide, hold the stockholder’s materials; the maximum load per cassette being three tonnes. The storage and retrieval machine (SRM) travels longitudinally at up to 120 m/min to ensure efficient material movement. Laser measuring delivers precise positioning and contour controls monitor that goods do not overhang and hinder their transfer.
Via a standard Profibus DP fieldbus, the proprietary KASTOlogic control orchestrates all functions, including drive controllers, manual control units and weighing electronics. AMCO can create or change data quickly and receives reliable information on inventories and cassette availability. Storage zones can be managed to optimise the SRM’s travel, while incoming orders are automatically assigned to the relevant processing stations. The Unigrip then provides stock and remnants to the machine tools and subsequently stores pre-machined parts and remnants.
To speed fault diagnosis and help with operational problems, Kasto’s service centre in Achern can access the storage system in Bremen remotely and control all functions of the KASTOlogic. Changes to the program or parameters can be carried out cost-effectively, without the need for Kasto staff to visit the site.
Schmidt explains: “Our investment in the Kasto solution has paid off handsomely and our goals and expectations have been fully met. The storage facility perfectly fulfils its intended functions of storing material and acting as a buffer for holding
pre-cut and machined parts, which are logically stored and accessed quickly and reliably.”
He is also pleased with other process advantages. Damage to material during transportation and handling has been virtually eliminated and AMCO has been able to reduce significantly its fleet of forklift trucks, as the storage system delivers the required materials to where they are needed.
“Co-operation between our staff and Kasto’s employees is very positive,” concludes Schmidt. “Technical optimisations during the running-in phase were quickly and fully completed, while ongoing adjustments take place continuously and are efficiently supported by the supplier.”
AMCO says its customers can count on state-of-the- art machinery and well-founded know-how of the sector. In short: as a reliable all-round supplier and partner, the company will make procurement – as well as the processing of non-ferrous metals (aluminium, copper, brass and bronze) – as easy as possible.
With its new corporate motto “When metal and service shine”, AMCO is setting its own bar for quality and first-class customer orientation. In doing so, the specialist knowledge of the company’s employees provide the finishing touch. Many market leaders and medium-sized companies from a multitude of sectors already place their trust in AMCO.
For further information www.kasto.com
