TGW Logistics has provided Europe’s largest musical instrument retailers with automated warehouse solutions that had the flexibility to accommodate higher throughout rates on the run up to Christmas
Musikhaus Thomann is a 59,201ft2 music store in Treppendorf, Germany and is the world’s biggest mail order business of musical instruments, with over four million regular online customers in Europe alone. Handling 12,000 packages a day, the retailer sought a system that would increase output by up to 50 per cent so it could accommodate the festive season and handle up to 20,000 packages a day.
Similarly, Music Store in Cologne has a substantial e-commerce operation that accounts for 70 per cent of its annual turnover of €100 million. It wanted a system that could manage seasonal peaks and allow it to increase its extensive product range even further.
The Music Store opted to consolidate all its business areas under one roof including its main central warehouse and five peripheral warehouses. This centralised approach and the automated solution that TGW has installed has improved operational efficiency by reducing the number of touches on the goods. It has also guaranteed the immediate availability of products, increased the speed of shipping and reduced the error rate.
For Musikhaus Thomann, TGW fitted out a new automated pallet warehouse with five stacker cranes serving 18,000 storage locations. In addition, an automated mini-load warehouse has four aisles each containing two Mustang mini-load AS/RS machines, which in total reach more than 1,000 double cycles per hour.
TGW’s CI_LOG and CI_FLOW software controls the equipment and assures that all items arrive at a Natrix Sorter as fast as possible.
The Natrix Sorter provides high performance sortation of goods of varying dimensions into multiple discharge lanes on either side of the machine.
The sorter also has the option of increasing the conveying speed, meaning that the speed of transfer can be even greater at peak times such as Christmas.
With both solutions designed to adapt to seasonal peaks and future growth, the retailers can be assured that their customers benefit from enhanced product availability and increased shipping speeds both now and in the long-term.
TGW Logistics Group is a leading supplier of highly dynamic, automated logistics solutions for warehousing, production, picking and distribution operations. The company designs, manufactures and installs a complete range of solutions, from small conveyor applications to complex, fully automated storage and retrieval systems.
Headquartered in Wels, Austria, the company has 14 offices on three continents and currently employs around 1,500 people worldwide.
In the financial year 2011/12, the TGW Logistics Group generated revenues of €362.3 million and is committed to continued growth through geographical expansion and investment in new product development.
With a regional office in Market Harborough, in the UK, TGW has designed and installed state-of-the-art, automated warehousing systems for major companies including M&S, Kimberly-Clark, Weetabix, Bentley, VOW, Pegler-Yorkshire, and others.
TGW Logistics
T: 01858 468855
