Fast retrieval of tools with the TowerMat

Paul Henke GmbH, a manufacturer of components for the furniture industry from the East Westphalian town of Löhne, makes around 1.8 billion items out of 7,000 metric tons of plastic every year for its broad customer base.

Plinth systems are the main product and Paul Henke produces around 55 million of these alone annually. The company needed an efficient, space-saving solution for the fast retrieval of its growing inventory of tools.

The tools were previously stored on static shelving and employees had to travel long distances to fetch the right tool from the warehouse during production changeover times. Accordingly, a storage system was required which could be installed on a small footprint while also allowing tools to be retrieved quickly.

By using a storage system developed by Kardex Remstar and its industry partner Intertex, more than 3,000 tools and other materials used in injection molding will be on hand in next to no time in future. Since around 100 new tools are added to the existing stock every year, the unit is designed to accommodate the growing number. To make this possible, three TowerMat storage lifts from Intertex, each 23.80 meters high, were integrated into one storage tower on a footprint measuring just 55 square meters. Around 3,000 tools used in injection molding are stored in these units. One particular challenge associated with the design was the big weight difference between the individual tools, ranging from 50 kg to 1.5 metric tons.