Joint venture: integrated automation warehouse for vehicle production in china
According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), commercial vehicle sales in China jumped 18.7% to an all-time record of 5.1 million units in 2020 while sales worldwide tanked 15.7%. To cater to the increased demands and needs, ZF and Foton has embarked on a second joint venture seeking to increase the production of transmissions for light commercial vehicles in Jiaxing for the Chinese market.
Integration of Warehouse Technology for a Combined Semi and Fully Automated Solution
Occupying over 250,000m², the plant is developed under a two-phase program at the cost of 5 billion yuan (~641 million Euros). The warehouse is a well thought out concept that combines a semi and fully automated logistics process. Due to the variety of parts that ZF Foton carries, two different racking systems are required to handle the storage capacity and density. The Very Narrow Aisle (VNA) for the storage of pallets and bulky items, and the SSI Miniload for small parts components. This unique configuration allows for ZF Foton to have a guaranteed space performance ratio and increased picking efficiency.
Maximizing Storage Density in the Warehouse
To effectively maximize space in the warehouse, ZF Foton has partnered with SSI SCHAEFER to expand the storage density vertically by using customizable punching uprights. With customizable punching uprights, additional storage space is easily created as it allows for products in different sizes to be stored together.
Challenges That Comes with Building an Ultra-Dense Facility
One of ZF Foton's requirements when conceptualizing their new warehouse is having an ultra-dense facility that allows for storage of different part sizes. With this consideration, SSI SCHAEFER proposed two different types of pallet racking systems to handle the storage capacity and density. With a combination of a semi and fully automated solution, ZF Foton can make efficient use of available space and improve picking efficiency.
