iFD WarehousePilot coordinates the flow of materials at Audi in Ingolstadt

Audi – one of the most successful manufacturers of premium cars – completed a project to build a new small parts warehouse in Kösching, near Ingolstadt, by the middle of this year. This project was managed by Actemium ASAS as the main contractor, which commissioned iFD in May 2021 to develop the material flow control system for this facility.

Actemium ASAS, whose core competencies lie in the planning, implementation and maintenance of industrial plants and processes, has been a partner to German manufacturers and suppliers of automation systems in logistics for decades. They deliver turnkey, innovative solutions for automated systems in the fields of electrical, automation and IT technology.

The scope of the iFD project includes the implementation of material flow control software for the stacker crane in the new automated warehouse, with upstream conveyor technology including a loop that connects the automated warehouse to the picking stations and sequences customer orders. The software also offers integrated warehouse management functions and a system visualisation tailored to the customer’s needs.

iFD WarehousePilot 7.0 is being used as the material flow control software with integrated warehouse management functions and system visualisation. The introduction of this system provides AUDI with modern, future-proof software which, thanks to its modular structure, can be expanded at any time and flexibly adapted to changing processes.

The WarehousePilot software ensures the reliable, safe and efficient transport of both full and empty containers on the automated system. It supports the quality assurance process by providing dialogues with details of the reason for inspection and for recording the inspection results. Storage allocation and management in the new automated small-parts warehouse is handled by the WMS module, which also manages the picking process.

For order picking, WarehousePilot performs the pre-calculation and provision of the required destination containers, displays stored packaging instructions via the order picking dialogue, and takes into account the maximum weights of the destination containers.

The visualisation integrated into WarehousePilot and customised to the customer’s requirements forms the central hub for presenting all key information required for the optimal operation of the system. The major advantage of the iFD visualisation lies in the data fusion between the PLC and WMS levels, which provides the operator with a comprehensive overview of the status of the entire system. The tooltip function, which displays further information on the system components and transport units, enables a comprehensive level of detail and thus absolute transparency.

The material flow simulation of the new system, carried out by iFD during the specification phase, was of particular importance to the project’s success. With the help of the system modelled in AutoMod, it was possible to verify the desired performance, identify potential bottlenecks and further optimise the system design even before final implementation.

The simulation was also used to coordinate the storage strategies (inbound and outbound strategies for the warehouse) for the project. With the aim of maximising system performance, the strategies for the facility were further optimised as a result.

Together with Actemium ASAS, we joined forces on this fantastic project and are delighted with the successful handover of the plant to the customer.