Carpenter, a manufacturer of comfort upholstery products based in Richmond, Virginia, produces around 15,000 tonnes of foam and foam products per year at its 36,000 square metre site in Ichtershausen near Erfurt, which opened in 1996. The foam blocks are used to produce customised rolls, multidimensional contour cuts or profiled sheets. True to the motto "We bring comfort to your life", Carpenter's products ensure greater comfort in many areas of everyday life, whether for comfortable seating on sofas, restful sleep on anatomically correct mattresses, a pleasant room climate thanks to high-tech insulation material or the secure packaging of the new television set on its way to the customer.
The upholstery specialist uses four indoor cranes in its 15,000 square metre warehouse. The cranes are responsible for removing the blocks after production and storing them temporarily for complete drying. As the material is soft and sensitive after the foaming process, it cannot be processed immediately. As soon as the foam is completely dry, the blocks are transported from the bearing by indoor crane at a travelling speed of up to 60 m/min. travelling speed for further processing. Each crane has two monorail trolleys that carry a 30 metre long gripper to pick up the plastic blocks.
Each crane has to handle around 150 storage and retrieval processes per day. With four cranes, this adds up to 210,000 movements per year. It is therefore crucial that the cranes are operational at all times and are never down for more than 24 hours. Because if new blocks cannot be stored or stored blocks cannot be transported for further processing, production comes to a standstill. As the entire logistics system works on a just-in-time basis, the manufacturer cannot afford any downtime.
