IRS-MFR at SMP Oldenburg

Complete integration of existing high bay warehouse into existing IRS-MES system.

As a supplier for leading German automotive manufacturers, SMP, in Oldenburg, Germany, uses a high bay warehouse (HBW) for production of bumpers.

During an upgrade, the previous material flow software was replaced by IRS-MFC warehouse management software, enabling the HBW to be fully integrated into the existing IRS-MES system at the company’s Oldenburg site. The HBW forms the central link between production of raw parts (IRS-PDA), inventory management (IRS-MFC) and downstream production and quality management (IRS-PDA).

Hence IRS-MES controls the entire production process. The integrated goods flow and diagnostics options, which are log, fault indicating and visualisation systems, increase the effectiveness and efficiency on all process levels. An improved and intuitive user interface guides users through each input screen, to prevent any operating errors.

This results in savings as personnel costs are kept to a minimum.

The raw parts manufactured in the Injection Moulding department for the bumpers are loaded onto the goods carriers controlled by IRS-MFC at the appropriate staging areas. Roller conveyors transport these to the high bay warehouse and the IRS-MFC automatically activates a new goods carrier at the staging area. Once IRS-MFC has determined the goods carrier’s article stock, it is stored.

The paint shop is informed of the HBW stock via interface. The paint shop creates a request for specific raw parts based on the paint plan and available stock and also transfers this via IRS-MFC. Stock is reserved independently via IRS-MFC and this initiates retrieval of the required goods carriers. These are provided on a buffer lane in the paint shop. Raw parts that are not needed are stored again.

So as not to disrupt regular production, test runs took place on four weekends with subsequent production assistance provided by IRS Software GmbH. The existing interfaces for the lower-level controllers and the paint shop were retained to ensure a seamless switch to IRS-MFC without interrupting production.

Main features

  • Four-aisle high bay warehouse (HBW) with 1080 storage locations for different goods carrier types
  • 160 handling stations including staging areas for 18 injection moulding machines
  • Quality control for the painted parts at 28 evaluation stations
  • The entire production process is planned and managed via IRS-MES
  • Complete integration of IRS-WCS into the existing IRS-MES. The HBW forms the central link between production of raw parts (IRS-PDA), inventory management (IRS-MFC) and downstream production and quality management (IRS-PDA)
  • Client server architecture with SQL Server 2012 database server
  • Communication with lower-level controllers for storage and retrieval systems and conveyor technology via TCP/IP
  • Diagnostics options: log, fault indicating and visualisation systems
  • Support for production supervisor via planning cockpit