The EKX 515 uses RFID transponders embedded in the warehouse floor to navigate its route around the store.

Jungheinrich has helped furniture maker Dedon consolidate its warehouses on multiples sites into a centralised distribution facility in Lüneburg, Germany.

Featuring wide- and narrow-aisle storage, the new facility was designed by the German forklift manufacturer, which also supplied a warehouse management system to control material flow around the site, materials handling equipment and racking.

Dedon was able to rationalise its four German warehouses and other sites in Belgium and Switzerland into the purpose-built facility as part of a major overhaul of its supply chain process.

The firm manufactures an extensive range of luxury outdoor garden furniture and claims to have pioneered a process of weaving synthetic fibre.

"Planning a warehouse for our furniture posed a particular challenge - largely because of the widely differing sizes of the products that we store and their awkward shapes," says Stefan Zander, the new facility's logistics manager.

The new store features nine aisles of narrow-aisle storage - with a top beam level of over 12 m (39 ft.) - served by guided Jungheinrich EKX 515 electric order pickers/stackers.

The EKX 515 uses RFID transponders embedded in the warehouse floor to navigate its route around the store. The warehouse management system (WMS) issues picking instructions to the truck, which then automatically takes the shortest route to its destination.

Jungheinrich estimates that the RFID-based warehouse navigation system technology enables 25% more efficient throughput than traditional narrow-aisle truck technology.

All stock movement is controlled by a WMS, which Jungheinrich developed to meet Dedon's needs.

Zander says: "Gone are the days when we had to create delivery notes manually, shipping papers and other documents. The Jungheinrich WMS now takes over this task in co-operation with the ERP system. And it is our design."

Jungheinrich also supplied and installed the racking at the new store. The system had to be able to support boxes of furniture measuring about 2,700 mm long x 1,150 mm wide (106 in. x 45 in.) and 2,750 mm (108 in.) high as well as traditional Euro pallets.

"Jungheinrich was more committed than its competitors and, in contrast to them, was able to communicate that it truly wanted to support the project," says Zander. "Apart from this, Jungheinrich's considerable experience in providing complete solutions was an argument in their favour."

With the new store, Dedon says it has been able to reduce its stock holding by 30% and cut delivery times from six to two weeks.