PROJECT REPORT | FOCUS BELT TECHNOLOGY

GEOS SCHLANDERS/ PROJECT REPORT | FOCUS BELT TECHNOLOGY GEOS SCHLANDERS/ITALY

FRUITFUL COMPETITION So the decision was made in favor of automation, with high expectations for GEOS the performance: Every type of apple is sorted by quality, color, and size in the automatic sorting system, dividing them into about 50 different articles, and then stored in the new high-bay warehouse (HBW), awaiting the cus- tomers’ orders. “Today, a typical order THE CUSTOMER GEOS SCORES WITH NEW LTW BELT for tomorrow morning looks like this: 18-kg boxes of 135 fruits each. This With 310 farmers, 120 employees, TECHNOLOGY AS THE FIRST VI.P MEMBER complexity requires a high level of and 960 ha of cultivated land, the organization: The more accurately we “Genossenschaft der Obsterzeuger work, the more our farmers yield.” Schlanders” (GEOS), a fruit growers’ Seven pomiculture cooperatives with a THE HIGH-BAY WAREHOUSE cooperative founded in 1946, is one joint presence: Since the “Vinschgauer THE INNOVATION of the largest members of the Produzenten” (VI.P) decided in 2007 to When in 2013 the new logistic interface “Vinschgauer Produzenten” (VI.P). pool the sales effort for their crops – between storage, sorting, and packaging Together with the logistics consultants around two billion apples per year – in Schlanders was in its first stages of from KDL in Hamburg, GEOS submitted The cooperative organizes its ­ the individual cooperatives have been planning, there were already two very a tender for the high-bay warehouse working year around the optimal able to focus even more on the quality convincing showcase objects close by: project. Among the four contestants ripeness of their fruit: In carefully and efficiency of their production. the automatic high-bay warehouses of from three countries, LTW came out on determined time slots, the farmers the VI.P cooperatives MIVOR in top in a points-based selection process Not only the 28 meter high stacker cranes are equipped with LTW belt technology, but also the two transfer cars harvest 70,000 metric tons of apples “We want to set the benchmark in in the pre-zone (image) and two vertical conveyors. The non-slip drive and the absolute length constancy of the (2011) and TEXEL in (2012), both with weighted quality and price criteria. belt allow high kinematic values and minimum settling times. and deliver them to the two GEOS the VI.P association regarding the realized by LTW. locations in Schlanders. The fruit costs,” GEOS managing director LTW convinces not only with its re- is stored in CA cells (Controlled Dr. Hannes Spögler explains. “That Hannes Spögler: “We saw that the solution nowned reliability, but above all with “LTW made the very plausible point that Atmosphere), guaranteeing virtually motivates us to be innovative: We for which MIVOR and TEXEL had opted was eight single-mast stacker cranes, which the higher price was more than justified no loss of freshness, until it is sort- build on the experience of others, and a complete success: improved freshness, are among the most innovative on the by the better performance and long life ed, packaged, and shipped over the then take it a step further. So that in more room, better process safety – and a market: The patented deflection belt span of the belt.” DI Johannes Thomann, course of the following season – the end everyone can learn from each substantial reduction of energy consump- drive of the lifting device is the first of technical manager at GEOS, emphasizes about half of it to other countries. other.” tion and weight loss of the stored goods.” its kind in . the “fascination of the exact positioning and processing perfection” after several weeks of three-shift operation. The low- maintenance belt does not even require lubrication – a distinctive advantage in the hygiene-sensitive food industry.

THE IMPLEMENTATION

In November 2015, after 11 months of construction, LTW finished the third project for the VI.P association in due time and at the anticipated costs – de- spite the difficult conditions in a densely built-up area and without interrupting normal operations. A follow-up project

The new high-bay warehouse serves as a buffer DI Johannes Thomann, technical manager at Five years warranty: The origins of the timing belt in the lift- The life span of the LTW drive belt, several times is already booked: A conveyor system to A patented combination of two classics: The break-proof between CA cells, sorting, and packaging. GEOS, and managing director Dr. Hannes Spögler: ing drive of the stacker crane stem from an LTW-cooperation longer than that of a conventional cable drive, connect the new sorting system, planned timing belt is deflected using the principle of a pulley, “Innovation secures the livelihood of our farmers.” with the research partners ContiTech and SynchroTech. reduces the life cycle costs considerably. for 2016, to the high-bay warehouse. and can handle weights of several metric tons. > > > > retrieval stations including > > PROJECT OUTLINE over 2 CONVEYOR SYSTEM > > > > HIGH-BAY WAREHOUSE Single-deep storage Single-deep Temperature range: +1 Payload: 1 Lx W xH: 63x3328m Galvanized steelrack Silostructure 17, 8 drive 2 drive 2   carbon neutral carbon vertical conveyors vertical withbelt transfer double carswithbelt print production print rack aisles natureOffice.com | AT-157-978405 | natureOffice.com 046 levels withstorage and storage positionsfor bins fruit . kg 250 °C to +3 °C °C

> SOFTWARE > STACKER CRANES > > > > > > YEAR OFCONSTRUCTION 2015 terface to the superiorPPSto terface arehouse system management celeration: oad-handling device: ting acceleration: ting speed: visualization and warehouse incl. management consisting warehouse of control W (production planningsystem) drivebelt inlift 8 In Telescopic fork single-deep Driving ac Driving speed:  L Lif Lif aisle-boundstacker cranes with 60 m/min

180 m/min 0 0 . 4 . 5 m/s m/s 2 2

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