LHD Group Deutschland GmbH is one of the leading international specialists in the segments of personal protective equipment, particularly for fire brigades, and workwear & corporate fashion. LHD designs, manufactures, certifies, distributes and delivers its own products all over the world.
In 2018, LHD relocated its international headquarters to Wesseling and merged the warehouses in Osnabrück and Zwenkau into one central warehouse. They commissioned SCHULTE to supply and install an efficient racking system to create space for 500,000 items and optimise goods handling. SCHULTE built two three-storey MULTIplus shelving systems with a total of 8,180 shelves and 2,028 metres of clothes rails. The warehouse was cleverly structured to speed up the flow of goods and shorten delivery times.
Maximising storage space
Two three-storey facilities with over 8,000 shelves and 2 kilometres of clothes rails
Accelerated flow of goods
Thanks to a clever storage concept
Safety during order picking
Tilting airlocks for fast and safe goods transfer on upper floors
Relief for employees
Goods lift eliminates the need to transport goods up and down stairs
Strict requirements fulfilled
Statics, safety and fire protection aspects were taken into account during planning
Short-term
Realisation
Over 200 tonnes of material installed in 12 weeks
Detailed
timing
While one system was already being installed, the second was being assembled
This is what our customer says:
"For me, this project was a project close to my heart, as I was involved from the very beginning and was able to realise everything we had in mind. Short distances for route-optimised picking. The possibility of organising our very wide range of articles in such a way that every part can be found quickly. In addition, the warehouse and our modern merchandise management system go hand in hand. SCHULTE has supported us pragmatically with intelligent solutions for all of this. At this point, I would like to emphasise the excellent cooperation with SCHULTE." - Kirsten Rückl, Head of the LHD racking project.
Stock items
Fabrics, buttons, flat and hanging goods
Shelving solution
Two three-storey MULTIplus shelving systems
Customer
LHD Group Germany GmbH, Wesseling
Industry sector
Fashion / Workwear
Scope of order
Consultancy, planning, delivery, assembly
Requirements
Clearly organised storage of 500,000 items with short picking routes
Object data
- Two three-storey shelving systems on an area of 2,750 m²
- Height: 7.50 m
- 8,180 shelves (flat goods), 2,028 m clothes rails (hanging goods)
- Integration of steel and portal construction
- Tilting gates for goods transfer on upper floors
- Integration of a lift system
Special features
- Strict building requirements (statics, safety, fire protection)
- Construction of the second system during ongoing operations
The company
LHD Group Deutschland GmbH is one of the leading international specialists in the segments of personal protective equipment, particularly for fire services, as well as workwear and corporate fashion. LHD equipment and clothing is worn in many countries around the world by firefighters, airline crew, road patrol and air rescue personnel as well as police and military personnel.
LHD designs, manufactures, certifies, distributes and supplies its own products. LHD Group Deutschland GmbH equips people in a wide range of professions with suitable clothing and, in some cases, equipment. One of the core segments is the fire sector. Under the brand name LION, the Wesseling-based specialist develops and manufactures personal protective equipment as well as day-to-day clothing for fire services worldwide.
It is obvious that comprehensive safety expertise is required here. It is also important to make a good visual impression. After all, the wearers of LHD products are always also representatives of their company or organisation at ADAC, the police or the judiciary.
The initial situation
In 2018, LHD decided to relocate its international headquarters to Wesseling and to merge the existing warehouses in Osnabrück and Zwenkau into one central warehouse. On the recommendation of STILL, the decision was made to commission SCHULTE with the design, delivery and assembly of a suitable racking system. The particular challenge was to realise the project in a relatively short time. First of all, various legal hurdles had to be overcome with regard to statics, safety and fire protection . Thanks to its extensive project experience, SCHULTE was able to contribute to solutions that cleared all the planning permission hurdles. When planning the overall facility, it was then important to create a warehouse that initially offered sufficient space for almost 500,000 individual items (buttons, trousers, shirts, protective suits, shoes, helmets, etc.). But not only that. Of course, the entire goods handling process also needed to be optimised.
The solution
As a result, SCHULTE proposed two shelving systems for the two LHD warehouses. Two three-storey MULTIplus shelving systems were created on around 2,750 m2 of warehouse space. They have 8,180 shelves for flat-packed goods and clothes rails with a total length of 2,028 metres for hanging goods. It was important to structure the entire warehouse as cleverly as possible in order to be able to store and retrieve goods more quickly and to shorten delivery times for customers.
To speed up the flow of goods, the SCHULTE project engineers have created simple and short goods routes. When new goods come in, they are transported to the systems by forklift truck. If it has to go to the upper two floors, the forklift truck drives the goods up and transfers them via a tipping lock. This means that the goods no longer have to be carried upstairs by hand. The individual shelving bays and corridors are arranged in such a way that routes can be run in an S-line form during order picking. This also saves time and reduces the workload for LHD employees. The system is equipped with a goods lift to make it easy to transport the picked goods to the ground floor and to dispatch.
The assembly:
Because the goods had to be moved quickly, there was not much time available for assembly. The SCHULTE fitters worked flat out for over 12 weeks to complete the large-scale project, which ultimately involved the installation of over 200 tonnes of material. SCHULTE lorries brought new material every day, which had to be pre-assembled, stored and finally assembled on site. Once the first system had been completed, LHD began to put the goods away. At the same time, SCHULTE assembled the second racking system. Ultimately, this was only possible thanks to close coordination and good communication.
