Duralog Duravit Logistik, Achern

Innovative logistics concept

Tailor-made shelving systems convince in practice

Innovative logistics concept for Duravit bathtubs

Groundbreaking sanitary trends

With the courage to design, Duravit has made a name for itself both nationally and internationally in recent years and offers pioneering sanitary trends that embody timelessly beautiful bathroom aesthetics. The success of the Hornberg-based bathroom manufacturer is reflected in its sales growth of around 16.4 percent. Above all, the business segment bathtubs + wellness, newly founded in 2002, made a significant contribution to this positive result. For Duralog, the wholly owned subsidiary of Duravit AG, this rapid development represented a logistical challenge.

Since 2001, Duralog Duravit Logistik GmbH has been responsible worldwide for the smooth delivery of Duravit products from its central warehouse in Achern. The planning at that time was mainly concerned with the handling of washstands, toilets and accessories made of sanitary ceramics. In the old warehouse, a total of 28 pallet racking systems and a shelving system are spread over 8,000 square metres, accommodating the conventional product range of Duravit AG. The resounding success of the new "Tubs + Wellness" product area quickly led to logistical bottlenecks.

ref sanitaer 19 2 06 — The partially chaotic storage system makes the man-to-goods principle more efficient. Only the picking positions at ground level are fixed. The levels above follow the chaotic warehousing principle.

Project Details

Object: Duralog Duravit Logistics, Achern

warehouse size: 5.000 m²

Used META products: META MULTIPAL pallet racks and drive-in racks

The Task

The extension with a size of 5,000 square meters was to be realized in the same way as the old warehouse. This included a usable height of 12 metres with plenty of daylight to create a bright and friendly working atmosphere for the approximately 65 employees. When it came to logistics, Duralog attached great importance to the proven flexibility, which enables the products to be easily reached and ensures that even small quantities can be picked quickly and conveniently. Starting with unloading, storage and filling of the shelving system through to order picking and loading of the goods, the proven workflows for the new logistics centre have been adopted for many years.

The challenge for META lay in the special requirements that Duralog placed on the racking systems. So that the pallets with different products and in different sizes could be stored on one block, there had to be a clearance of 1.6 to 2.05 metres on each level. This is because each tray is stored on a specially tailored pallet which should be stored on each shelf regardless of the respective zone. "We wanted to store all the tub pallets that existed at the time and will exist in the future in the new warehouse without having to make any structural changes," explains Braig.

ref sanitaer 19 2 02 — "META was the only manufacturer who could offer the system with `Böckchen´ in a length of 600 mm. Thanks to this design, different pallet lengths can be stored on one level, which means that our dimensions were met to our complete satisfaction," says a delighted Stéphane Fritz.

ref sanitaer 19 2 04 — The new building area was raised to 44 rack rows consisting of a mix of a Euro pallet racking system and META drive-in drive-through racks.

Customer Statement

Since META had already completed the first section of the central warehouse in Achern to the complete satisfaction of Duralog, the company turned to the Arnsberg-based warehouse specialist again this time. "The decision in favour of META was made quickly. Because all other warehouse system manufacturers could not reconcile our individual requirements with the specified safety guidelines and the necessary flexibility. META offered us an optimal solution that met all our requirements," says Managing Director Thomas Braig.

"The customers make use of the flexibility we offer and place their orders accordingly. That's why we have to be able to quickly fall back on each individual part," explains Duralog plant manager Stéphane Fritz, explaining the requirements for flexible warehousing.