Daifuku: Green Logistics – Individual measures are not targeted

Optimization in the material Handling promotes sustainable energy balance – individual measures are not effective

Green footprint through efficient intralogistics

 

More and more logisticians are thinking “green”. But environmentally friendly and resource-saving intralogistics requires highly efficient and well-thought-out material handling systems. This not only means the energy consumption of systems, but also the efficiency of individual components of a logistics center.

Since 2010, the legislation has stated that logistics buildings have to ensure low-CO2 operation. This means that a high part of energy consumption must be used mostly from renewable sources. By 2020, the federal government has set itself the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 % compared to 1990. Germany is to be almost greenhouse gas -neutral by 2050. Not only politics, but also increasing energy costs and customer requirements exert pressure for better energy balance. A study carried out by PWC on sustainability in the transport and logistics industry comes to the conclusion that customer requirements are even the most important point for sustainability regulations. More and more companies are therefore committed to an environmentally friendly supply chain – not just for reasons of reputation. Markus Becker, Business Development Manager at the Japanese material handling expert Daifuku, explains: "We have been pursuing the Environmental Vision 2020 since 2011, with which we as a company stand for a sustainable environment. Every business activity takes place against the background of an environmentally conscious action. Of course, this includes the development and provision of material flow systems with low environmental impact."

Optimization potential of logistics centers

According to a final report by the Chair of Promotion Technology Material River Logistics and the Chair for Building Climate and House Technology at the Technical University of Munich, buildings are responsible for the promotion of industrial community research and development in the EU and in Germany for 36 % of greenhouse gas emissions and for 40 % of energy consumption. In particular, the lighting, room heat, hot water and climate counts are decisive points that make up 35 % of the building energy consumption of non-residential buildings in Germany. It is already possible to achieve an energy saving of almost 50 % in a logistics store – for example in temperature -run lanterns due to heat recovery. With the appropriate technology, energy consumption can be minimized not only when designing a building. The energy requirements of intralogistics parameters should also be checked. Because a green optimization of a logistics center can only work if all energy flows are checked for your energy consumption. While in a manual camp there is only a small part of around 20 % of the power consumption on material flow technology, intralogistics in a fully automatic distribution center is responsible for 85 % of the total energy requirement.

Energy-efficient components in intralogistics

Markus Becker is convinced that this trend can be further expanded and optimized in the next few years. “At DAIFUKU we are far ahead when it comes to green logistics. We have been focusing on energy-efficient intralogistics systems for several years.” This is due “on the one hand to the rising costs of energy and on the other hand to political influences”. “When investing in new intralogistics, performance criteria such as throughput or dynamics are no longer the deciding factor,” he observes, and also states: “The energy consumption of the systems is becoming increasingly important in the context of tenders.” Consumption is very important on the masses to be moved. In recent years, DAIFUKU has therefore drastically reduced the weight of storage and retrieval machines. This made it possible to minimize the drive power of the motors used and thus the energy consumption with the same or better dynamic values.

The H-Class pallet rack control devices, which are built up to a device height of 40 meters, provide a concrete example – 25 % of the mass were saved here. This was achieved, among other things, by a completely revised mast design. This solution consists of a combination of grid mast and steel pipe profiles. These constructive measures are complemented by sophisticated control concepts, which, for example, actively counteract the mast vibrations when accelerating and delay. In combination with an automated storage system, the STV (Sorting Transportation Vehicle) from Daifuku also forms an integrated transport system with high performance. A framework structure with fewer switching boxes leads to a 9 % lower weight, the use of highly efficient engines to reduce power consumption by 10 %, and CO2 emissions and energy consumption are also 10 % compared to previous models.

In addition, DAIFUKU developed the Shuttle Rack M. In addition to the increased throughput compared to a conventional automatic small parts warehouse (AKL), this system reduces power consumption because the ratio of shuttle weight to payload is particularly advantageous

Individual measures not effective

“When optimizing and designing logistics buildings and systems, it is not enough to just improve individual components,” explains Markus Becker. “Even if logistics halls are built according to current energy efficiency standards, their inner workings must be included in the energy planning.” However, the weighting is done in different ways: The final report of the Chair of Material Handling, Material Flow, Logistics and the Chair of Building Climatics and Building Technology of the Technical Department The University of Munich comes to the conclusion that three types must be distinguished in which the weighting of savings potential differs. The manually operated logistics hall can best reduce its overall energy requirements through measures on the building. In a semi-autonomous warehouse, the influence of intralogistics already increases to 70%, as a result of which a fully automated logistics center is 85% dependent on energy-efficient intralogistics. The importance of scalable and energy-saving intralogistics is therefore a crucial point when planning an autonomous logistics warehouse.

Daifuku co., Ltd. – the company

Founded in 1937, DAIFUKU is one of the leading international providers of material handling systems. As a globally operating company, DAIFUKU has eleven factories at its manufacturing site in Shiga, Japan. Independent branches in Great Britain and Germany as well as contractual partners in Spain, Portugal and Scandinavia are also part of the company. There are currently over 30,000 stacker cranes and 10,000 systems in use worldwide. Reference customers include BELIMO, Canon, Dagab, DELL, Hammesfahr, ICA, Lever Fabergé, Levi Strauss, Netto, Opel, Riverford, Supergros and many more.

Your contact with Daifuku ⯈ Mr. Markus Becker: Contact form – Telephone: +49 2161 68 33 044