Above: A honeycomb cassette warehouse for long goods offers short access times, an ability to move large quantities of material and very high storage density
Written by: Martin Stöckle
July, 2025- What steel traders want from their in-house material management system is always the same: more picks per hour, maximum storage volume per square foot and at the same time less manpower and less material damage due to improper handling.
“With our systems specialized for the steel trade, we make this dream come true,” says Martin Stöckle, market and product expert at Remmert GmbH. “Our honeycomb automated storage systems with a high degree of automation are the solution, especially for long goods traders.”
With Remmert’s systems, companies managing long products (i.e., beam, bar, pipe) can operate economically despite a shortage of skilled workers or increased energy prices. Because of the automation offered by Remmert, “steel distributors specializing in long products can even run completely unmanned shifts. Our customers practically no longer need personnel for processing [either], such as sawing,” says Stöckle, adding, that even “wafer-thin” staffing levels can be overcome.
In addition, skilled workers can concentrate on those areas of work where they are indispensable and where they can be more effective.
Various stations and manipulators can be integrated into the solution for easy manual picking of long products.
AT THE FINGERTIPS
Long goods are stored in tailor-made storage cassettes, which are arranged in shelves with a honeycomb structure, in a way that is gentle on materials and always ready to hand.
“The honeycomb structure also allows us to optimize the storage density at the site,” says Stöckle. “This is practical, especially for bulky and very heavy goods such as pipes, metal profiles or rods. Our systems can store many thousands of items. We use every square inch of storage space and the entire available height.”
Compared to lifting and moving material with cranes or forklifts, the storage and retrieval times are so fast that Remmert supplies its customers’ picking or further processing operations with goods continuously and without interruption. This saves time and expense, and enables service centers to improve their delivery performance.
SENSE AND SENSITIVITY
The storage and retrieval unit moves between the shelves and removes the required cassette fully automatically. The less that products have to be moved by employees with the forklift truck, the less damage is likely to occur to the material. This is particularly critical for stainless steel and aluminum. The S&R machine then takes the cassettes to the removal stations.
“Traditionally, people take over at this point with the help of manipulators. Either picking or further processing takes place, for example with the feeding of automatic saws,” explains Stöckle. “But we at Remmert are thinking a few steps ahead. After all, the more manual operations are automated, the more efficient, safe and economical the processes in the storage system are.”
Robotic solutions such as the pick system automate the handling of long goods for order picking or for feeding automatic sawing machines. This means that 24/7 processes can be implemented with extremely low staffing levels.
OPERATIONS INTEGRATION
In order to optimize intralogistics processes as a whole, Remmert has a wide range of automation options that can be adapted to individual customer requirements on a modular basis, according to Stöckle. “For example, automatic cut-off machines can be connected to the warehouse solution regardless of the manufacturer.”
Remmert’s pick system selects material from the cassette and transfers it to the next process. “The loading and unloading process of the automatic sawing machine is so fast that non-productive times can be drastically reduced,” ensuring high productivity, continues Stöckle. Measuring the material and returning the offcuts to the storage system is also automated.
Remmert’s solutions can help service centers further reduce the number of personnel required for processing, as different products can be changed fully automatically. Stöckle remarks, “Unmanned night shifts for sawing? No problem.” Remmert can also integrate articulated arm robots into the overall solution for handling the saw cuts.
Martin Stöckle
SOFTWARE BACKUP
No system can do without software. The Warehouse Management System (WHS) from Remmert is designed for intralogistics in highly automated storage systems. WMS optimizes the material flow for the shortest possible picking and further processing times, for example by pre-buffering the next cassette, so that downtimes are minimized.
Due to the ability to integrate with the customer’s existing ERP, “we already know today what we will be doing tomorrow.” This means operators can plan ahead what material they will need and what will be done to it.
“Our software notices if the storage and retrieval machine has not made any trips over a longer period of time and starts to reorganize the goods in the storage system. For example, fast-moving items are moved to the front or we optimize the route to make the material flow as fast as possible. Our customers have an exact overview of the stocks in the storage system at all times. This is the key to a functioning supply chain, from reordering from the steel manufacturer to punctual delivery to the end customer.”
Remmert systems, including smart control and software modules, enable productivity increases in the intralogistics process from day one. These systems can be flexibly adapted to changing requirements.
Remmert GmbH, remmert.de
