About the customer
Erima is the oldest German sporting goods company still in existence with over 115 years of experience in team sports. The company, based in Pfullingen, has subsidiaries in France, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands. Premium quality, design, innovation, passion, authenticity and community have become firmly anchored in the sporting goods manufacturer's DNA over the years. The eventful history of Erima begins with the company's founder Remigius Wehrstein in 1900 with his company for the "sale of gym clothes". In 1936 Erich Mak (hence the name Erima) took over the company, which he continued until 1975/76. After an interlude with Adidas, Wolfram Mannherz took over the company after a management buy-out in 2005. Then the expansion begins as a supplier in the field of football. Increasing order volumes and limited storage capacities aroused the desire to expand the company. The logistics center has been located in Kirchentellinsfurt in the Tübingen district since July 2019, to which the administrative headquarters will also be relocated in 2021.
Initial situation and customer requirements
- The new logistics center in Kirchentellinsfurt has a specially tailored, fully automatic "Autostore system" with 51 robots and a capacity of e.g. Currently 150,000 containers, which can be increased to 180,000 containers. The Autostore bins are stacked on aluminum shelves.
- In addition, there is a manual high rack for bulky goods with a capacity of 3800 pallet storage spaces.
- The infrastructure is sufficient to handle around 2000 orders and 2500 parcels per day.
- The warehouse is characterized by a large variety of items and large stocks, among other things due to a four-year availability guarantee.
- The goods should be repacked from the Autostore containers into special containers at certain packing stations. The new containers are to be used for the internal cycle and above all for in-house picking.
- The containers should run smoothly on the existing conveyor technology and also be able to reduce their volume.
The BITO solution
- EQ containers are used with a volume saving in the ratio of 1: 4 when storing and transporting the empty containers. Due to a reinforced ribbed base, they allow a high content load of up to 50 kg for storing and transporting heavy goods.
- The EQ bins are used for the internal cycle and above all for in-house picking.
- They run particularly smoothly on conveyor technology and can also be used in automatic warehouses. The temperature resistance is in a range from - 20 to +90 ° C.
- The simple and ergonomically designed folding mechanism sets the EQ container apart from the competition.
Customer application
- The sporting goods are repacked from the Autostore system into the EQ containers at the appropriate packing stations.
- The EQ containers are then transported to the appropriate packaging locations.
- The sporting goods are made ready for dispatch at the packing stations. To do this, they are repacked in predefined cardboard boxes.
- Gray containers serve as circulation containers and orange containers for the goods diverted for quality inspection.
Customer benefit
- The EQ container is ideal for repacking the goods and transporting them safely and without damage from the conveyor system to the packing stations.
- The smooth running of the EQ containers results in a more ergonomic working environment for employees.
- In addition, the option of reducing the volume by a quarter saves enormous space and money in storage and transport.
- Erima uses two color variants of the EQ. Gray EQ containers serve as circulation containers. Orange containers are used for better identification of the rejected goods for quality control. Confusion is therefore impossible.
