iFD strengthens its position in the Russian market – partnership with COMITAS

iFD GmbH has been operating successfully in the Russian market since 2012. In 2014, a large distribution centre was opened at the Moscow-Domodedovo site for the mail-order giant KOMUS. In the same year, the Russian subsidiary OOO iFD SLS (Software & Logistic Solutions), based in Moscow, was founded.

iFD is now taking a further step towards opening up the Russian market through its cooperation with COMITAS.

COMITAS is a Russian group of companies which implements complex large-scale projects in the fields of automation, warehousing and intralogistics as a general contractor. The company sees itself as a systems integrator for automation in warehousing and production areas. The history of COMITAS is closely linked to the “KIFATO MK Trading House”, which has held a leading position in the design and supply of racking systems on the Russian market for many years.

The cooperation between COMITAS and iFD proved successful within a short space of time. In 2020, a new warehouse is being built in the public sector near Moscow. A fully automated, high-performance warehouse system is being installed across an area of 100,000 square metres. Over 20 curved-path stacker cranes, operating in 60 aisles within the 23-metre-high warehouse, will serve the approximately 533,000 pallet spaces. The pallets are transported within the warehouse via a high-speed electric ground conveyor (EBB). Four robot-assisted work zones are used for storage and retrieval. For this project, iFD is supplying its innovative Material Flow Control System, which fully meets the high performance and safety requirements with the planned management of 45 million SKUs.

The iFD-MFCS integrates seamlessly into the structure between the customer’s EWS and the PLC controllers from COMITAS and other technical suppliers.

The iFD-MFCS performs the following functions:

• Inventory management in the automated warehouse
• Order picking
• Transport coordination and handling between departments and areas
  • Goods receipt/goods issue
  • Electric floor conveyor
  • Robots
  • Stacker cranes
• Plant visualisation and monitoring
• Status checks, maintenance intervals and performance measurements

In addition, iFD created a plant and process simulation during project phase 1. The simulation, which was implemented using the Automod system, provided essential insights into:

• Number of vehicles and driving strategies on the EBB
• Capacity limits for storage and retrieval with order picking
• Optimised storage strategy for the curved-path stacker cranes
• Optimised schedules for filling the warehouse

The schedule provides for a two-stage commissioning, with SOP in December 2021.