KHS GmbH
EMB Euro containers in modular dimensions made to customer requirements
Our customer
As an international manufacturer of filling and packaging systems for the beverage, food and non-food industries, KHS GmbH occupies a leading position in the industry. Headquartered in Dortmund, KHS GmbH achieved sales of around 1,137 million euros in 2017 with 5,070 employees. KHS GmbH is a wholly owned subsidiary of Salzgitter AG. In addition to international production sites in the USA, Mexico, Brazil, India and China, KHS develops and manufactures the entire portfolio of filling and packaging machines at five German locations. Especially high-performance systems, but also solutions for smaller operations are in the range. KHS GmbH is valued as a market leader and supplier of innovative, reliable and highly efficient products and services such as turnkey systems, stand-alone machines, conversions. Their 24/7 global on-site service is another plus.
Initial situation and customer requirements
- KHS was looking for a new container series for the German production sites.
- With a new, standardised container concept, the Kanban principle was to be implemented in the production, assembly and logistics areas as well as between different sites and workflows were to be streamlined.
- KHS already had a BITO carton live storage system in use, and the new containers are to use the full depth of the 1,200 mm deep roller lanes.
- KHS needed containers with a standard length of 600 mm and different width and height options.
- Our customer has to handle a huge selection of parts for the assembly of the machines. Items have a lot of different sizes.
- An efficient, space-saving plastic container was required for storing long and frequently used components.
- The filling height is to be fully utilised, which is why the new containers should have closed sides without open handles.
- Parts must be easy to pick during manual handling despite the limited container width.
- All container sizes must be compatible with each other.
- It must be easy and safe to stack the plastic boxes on the trolleys which KHS has been using as of most late to transport parts to in-plant production areas and between various locations.
- It is important that all containers on the trolleys can be seen at a glance.
- Ergonomics at the assembly site is to be improved.
- Container handling must be particularly convenient, as even heavy parts with a weight of up to 18 kg must be carried.
- The containers must be particularly sturdy to prevent base deflection when storing heavy components.
- Other KHS plants are also to be gradually converted to the new containers.
Some impressions of our customer solution
Project brief
The BITO Solution
EMB stacking container series in modular sizes
» BITO had its own tool built for customising the EMB stacking container series to KHS requirements
Standard container length 600 mm, different widths
» All modular containers are 600 mm long and 133 mm, 266 mm and 400 mm wide. The width of two narrow containers (133 mm) equals one medium-width container (266 mm), whereas three 133 mm-containers are compatible with the largest container width of 400 mm. One medium-width (266 mm) and one narrow-width container (133 mm) are interstackable with the 400 mm wide container. BITO supplied EMB containers in two height options of 142.5 mm and 270 mm. The stacking height of two 142.5 mm containers corresponds to the height of a 270 mm container.
Stacking compatibility
» EMB formats have been cleverly designed: They perfectly fit on a Euro pallet, in a 1,200mm deep flow rack and a 600mm shelf trolley (many other Kanban bin formats are not that versatile).
Parts are easy to pick
» With a width of 133 mm, the narrow-type EMBs are still wide enough for convenient manual small parts picking.
Particularly solid ribbed base
» EMBs have a strong ribbed base in modular European dimensions and are suited for high load capacities. This means that it is safe to stack mixed-size containers.
Ergonomic handles
» The cup handles are perfect for manual handling tasks such as lifting, carrying, pushing and pulling. The smooth inner sides provide a large filling volume.
Easy to clean
» The snag-free inner surfaces are easy to clean.
Ideal for use in Kanban systems
» The EMB fits perfectly in shelving with inclined shelves or in carton live storage racks which are frequently used in Kanban production and assembly processes.
On-site application and key features of our storage solution
- KHS essentially uses a two-bin Kanban system to supply production and assembly areas – supplemented by conventionally provided material supply.
- As part picking at the workplaces is essentially a manual process, ergonomic shelving heights are used in the replenishment areas.
- The same EMB containers are filled with the same contents so assembly operators will know exactly where to reach without losing time.
- A wide variety of items are stored and transported in the EMB containers, from small parts to heavy loads and long components.
- The containers are filled by a logistics services provider and loaded onto trolleys.
- A trolley shelf level measures half the size of a Euro pallet (1,200 x 600 mm) and carries all the parts needed to make an assembly. Accordingly, the trolleys supply the required number of containers. A set of trolleys is attached to a tugger train, which supplies the individual assembly stations.
- The tugger train also returns empty containers to the filling stations.
- All containers are barcoded for immediate content identification.
- All reference lines have been assigned a fixed storage position so operators know the correct place of each container.
- Thanks to the modular concept, EMB containers of all sizes can be interstacked.
Customer benefits
In what way has the BITO solution helped our customer to realise their full potential?
- The new containers have significantly improved the material flow process and made work much easier.
- The standard container length of 600 mm is perfect for storing long loads.
- The favourable width-length ratio enables full use of the entire container volume, especially when storing long components.
- At a length of 600 mm, EMBs make best use of space in carton live storage racks. Regardless of the container width and height, the roller tracks of a flow shelf can always accommodate 2 containers in depth. With the new EMB containers, racking space utilisation has increased by up to 40%.
- In the past, the existing space for providing replenishment supplies was too small. It can now be used efficiently thanks to the new container sizes. The space required for material supply at the assembly stations is now in a very good proportion to the number of parts provided.
- Improved ergonomics at the assembly stations, only a few containers are not within easy reach of the operator.
- Quicker access to the parts in stock.
- Despite different widths and heights, EMB containers interstack perfectly and do not tip over during transportation. No additional load securing is required.
- Container stacks are stable even when large containers are stacked on top of smaller ones. No restacking necessary.
- Space on the tugger train trolleys is now being used perfectly.
- Faster overview of the contents thanks to container coding and labelling and the organised presentation of the boxes on the trolleys.
- No handle holes so that small parts do not fall out and the container height can be fully utilised.
- The ergonomic cup handles are very user friendly.
- A particularly rigid base prevents deflection even with heavy point loads.
- The various departments now work much more efficiently, with clearly noticeable positive effects on process costs.
„We needed a pool-compatible container suitable for all locations that takes into account all the special features of the KHS range of materials. We wanted to optimise our transport and material flow processes with a customised container series and streamline our internal production supply chain to reduce process costs. The EMB stacking container series from BITO proved to be perfect for our requirements.“
