Bauer Hermes - Intralogistics/E-Commerce

Baur Hermes Fulfillment and Indu-Sol: Partnership for logistical excellence

New shuttle warehouse and integration of an OT network for optimized logistics processes

The logistics infrastructure was expanded and modernized with a 16,000 square metre, fully automated shuttle warehouse at a cost of 150 million euros. The aim was to set up a future-proof OT network to improve system availability and securely connect the OT to the IT. Indu-Sol supplied a complete solution for this, which included a high-performance gigabit backbone, PROmesh diagnostic switches and centralized OT network monitoring and asset management.

Customer

Baur Hermes Fulfillment (BHF), Altenkunstadt turnover: > 800 Mio. €

Employees: > 1,500

Logistics capacity: > 250,000 dispatches per day

Sector

Fulfillment E-Commerce with full assortment

Period

May 2022 until the end of quarter 2, 2024

Project description

The Baur Group and its subsidiary, Baur Hermes Fulfillment (BHF), plan to expand and modernize the logistics infrastructure at the Altenkunstadt site. To this end, € 150 million was invested in a new shuttle warehouse with 840,000 and around 1,000 autonomous shuttles. Service and speed are to be significantly increased and decentralized inventories brought together at a central location, which will get the goods to the end customer faster and significantly reduce the costs for Group logistics. The company‘s plant efficiency and digitalization expertise are to be significantly increased and a central OT asset management system implemented, for which the homogeneous fieldbus systems had to be merged into a high-performance OT network.

Of course „digitally ready“. In future, end devices and firmware are to be managed centrally and delivered in a time and cost-saving manner. However, the ultimate goal is system availability, as downtime costs of € 500,000 per hour can arise here, which must be prevented.

Goal

Establish OT asset management and increase system availability

Challenge and solution from Indu-Sol

Indu-Sol developed an advanced communication network for the customer, consisting of 200 PROmesh switches, 60 PROFINET-INspektors® and the PROmanage® NT software. This condition monitoring management system enables proactive maintenance and reduces unplanned downtime by converting potential faults into planned maintenance work at an early stage. Indu-Sol relied on a high-performance gigabit backbone, provided support with network planning and introduced condition monitoring solutions. These strategic steps not only improve plant availability, but also ensure the customer‘s long-term competitiveness. The established network structure also serves as the basis for centralized OT asset management, equips the client for future requirements and supports the pursuit of long-term goals.

Our value proposition

Network consulting and planning
Implementing a condition monitoring management system
200 PROmesh Switches
60 PROFINET-INspektors®
Software PROmanage® NT

Benefits for the client

Comprehensive digitization-capable OT network incl. secure IT/OT connectivity
Network development for centralized OT asset management
Predictive maintenance to prevent unplanned system downtimes
Effective reduction of unplanned downtimes with problem costs of up to 500,000 €/hour.
ROI < 1 hour unplanned downtime costs