Joint development
After numerous investments, in 2017 Zerhusen Kartonagen decided to change from a pure converting company to a corrugated board producer together with MINDA. MINDA convinced its customer with a concept for the discharge of the corrugated board stacks from the corrugator, the transport into the existing high-bay warehouse and into the in-house warehouse, as well as via a transport bridge to the converting machines. The peripherals upstream and downstream the converting machines complete the overall solution for a continuous transport within the integrated plant.
Since then, Zerhusen Kartonagen has permanently invested in the expansion of production. In recent years, further converting machines were connected and new production routes for intralogistics were created.
The distinctive features of the plant become apparent when planning the continuous expansion: The special structural conditions repeatedly presented the planning team with new challenges. Both the demanding building structure in the existing premises as well as the hall heights and the numerous connections across the entire plant - for example to the high-bay warehouse - required special consideration during the design phase. Thanks to the cooperative planning of Zerhusen Kartonagen and MINDA, constructive and efficient solutions could always be found on site.
Planning reliability thanks to digital measurement
Due to the special structural conditions on site, MINDA used modern 3D scanning technology for the customized layouts. The scanner technology provides a detailed visualization of the entire plant and ensures maximum planning reliability in advance.
The scans of nearly 360° generate views by means of a three-dimensional scatter-plot, which can later also be used for 3D layouts. A planned modification in the plant can thus be clearly visualized even before the assembly is started. The laser scans, which are created in the shortest possible time, include all structural features such as columns, existing machines, and any interfering edges, such as pipes or suspensions. This allows all differences and deviations in levels and angles to be determined exactly.
In addition, any additional dimensions required later can be easily generated from the recorded data, as the HD images from the laser scan enable dimensioning with an accuracy of less than 10mm.
Expansion of the production area
In order to increase the production capacity, new production areas had to be developed in Damme. The installation of further converting machines within the existing factory halls was not possible, so that an additional hall was built, and the intralogistics were accordingly connected.
Since then, the discharge has no longer run in the same direction as before, but it was mirrored accordingly to the current converting process. Thus, a continuous connection to the existing high-bay warehouse had to be designed here as well. In order to avoid additional strain on the previously existing transport system, a completely self-sufficient feeding system to the high-bay warehouse was implemented for this purpose, which was also designed considering further production increase.
In order to ensure a fully automatic feeding to and discharge from the converting machines planned in the new hall in the future, an additional connection to the corrugator hall will be implemented in 2022. For this purpose, a transport bridge will be used, leading across the site without any interference with the internal transport. Accordingly, the short distances between the corrugator and the new hall can be realized, so that the previous transport route through the already existing production sector is relieved and the direct connection to the new hall is created much more efficiently.
Continuously optimizing the complex processes and routes in the plant requires, among other factors, a good production planning in advance, which has developed over the past few years in a close exchange between Zerhusen Kartonagen and MINDA.
Considering the planning of production increases
Moreover, sustainable development requires that a further increase in production capacity is already now taken into account. Therefore, in the implementation of the layouts, special emphasis has been placed on the following aspects in recent years: overall consideration of current and future expansion steps of the plant in the areas of corrugated board production, converting machines, internal processes and storage technology.
MINDA refers this perspective planning not only to the hardware, but also to the software. In order to meet the customer’s requirements for the increased transport structures of the plant, the PLC as well as the control level MoveIT have to be adjusted and further developed again and again. Thus, the software is also designed for the perspective increase in production and bears the complex transport processes in mind.
"During the demanding project planning, the respectful, pleasant and constructive cooperation between Zerhusen Kartonagen and MINDA is actually in the spotlight. It is always exciting to watch the development of the site in Damme. I am really looking forward to further cooperation and new challenges in the future." (Benjamin Simmons, Area Sales Manager MINDA)
The growth of Zerhusen Kartonagen and MINDA reflects the cooperative way of the companies: It is not only the continuous further development and optimization of the production process - as well as the functions in the assemblies - that connect the intralogistics specialist with headquarters in Minden and the corrugated board producer in Damme. They both have had to face the same challenges in terms of growing company size, as well as adjusting their structures. The companies look back on a long history of partnership, characterized by future-oriented planning and project management, on which Zerhusen Kartonagen and MINDA always rely on and they are already planning new projects for the coming years. With the already installed production plant and the additionally ordered intralogistics systems from MINDA, a production of up to 500 million m² or 250,000 t of paper per year will be possible at the site in Damme.
