“With our three production sites in France, Bavikhove and Lokeren, we want to bring a uniform collection of screen fabrics onto the market. In order for the customer to maintain an overview, we decided to centralise customer service and the warehouse in Bavikhove. We quickly settled on this location, as 45% of production takes place here and our largest customers are based in the region,” Pascal begins.

“By consolidating the volumes, the investment in automation became justifiable. We were going to have to make this choice anyway at some point for ergonomic reasons. After all, the rollers are heavy and difficult to manipulate, which was also a challenge for the automation process.”

“We purchased a new machine to cut the jumbo rolls into smaller rolls. Once the marketable roll is ready, it is transported from the cutting machine via a conveyor belt to the first Fraxinus lift. The roll is raised and travels to the warehouse area at a higher elevation, reaching a platform where a shifter feeds the rolls into the warehouse. Just before they are taken down in the second lift to be placed in one of the six warehouse racks by the robot, the scanner reads the RFID tag. The robot then picks up the roll and places it in the correct position. The rolls are pushed into the cylinder (plastic cylinders that hold the rolls in place) in the warehouse rack using a gripper. Whenever the crane inserts a finished roll into the rack, it also removes one that is ready for shipment. “In this way we save a lot of crane travel time.”

“First of all, we had limited space in terms of surface area and height, so we had to make the most of the available space. The biggest challenge, however, was to insert a supplied roll into the correct cylinder and then to remove the correct roll from the cylinder. The roll and the cylinder have fixed coordinates, but due to the variable diameter of the roll, it is never positioned in exactly the same place. With the help of cameras, the gripper can correctly remove the roll. This happens very quickly, because we have to be able to perform 55 movements per hour to achieve our input and output targets. To achieve all this, a link has been established between the installation and Business Central.”

“The project is being monitored with the greatest care by the Hunter Douglas Group, the holding company of which Mermet Europe is a part. Recently, the general manager of the EMEA zone came to visit and he was impressed by the newly designed warehouse. Once the installation is operational, he will definitely come and take another look at it. If all goes according to plan, he plans to copy this concept in other branches of the group.”

“We first looked at existing systems for handling rolls, but it turned out that they required much more space and were not really suited to the size of our company. That is why it was important to find a partner who could design and implement a custom installation for us. In addition, we wanted a local partner so that we could receive quick help in the event of a malfunction.”

“Fraxinus’ thorough preparation helped us in the decision-making process. In our organisation, it’s of utmost importance that project proposals are thoroughly substantiated. Fraxinus had already fully developed the concept in 3D during the sales phase, so that we could present a tangible and well-documented proposal to our management. It became a neck-and-neck race with another partner, who proposed a similar concept. The company visit to Fraxinus and several reference projects ultimately tipped the scales. We look back with satisfaction on a dynamic collaboration, characterised by straightforward communication and a solution-oriented approach. The schedule was also perfectly adhered to. Hats off to the technicians and the project manager: the construction went smoothly with highly approachable teams.”