Distribution centre for automotive spare parts at Daimler
Located in the Stuttgart-Frankfurt-Strassbourg triangle, DaimlerChrysler’s Global Logistic Center in Hatten serves both as the worldwide spare parts warehouse for Smart and as the European central warehouse for Mopart (Chrysler and Jeep). It is a fine example of how DaimlerChrysler has expanded its parts storage capability by combining the product ranges of other makes.
Spare parts volumes are growing very fast, because more and more model versions are added during the life cycle of any model series. An original number of 6.000 parts can quickly grow to 15.000 parts. The overall turnover of a spare part is between 2 and 3. From Monday to Friday the variation in demand can be about 30%. The logistics system must have the ability to deal with these changes in demand.
Daimler realised it had to invest in a new automated material handling system to handle these logistics challenges. The system consists of a tote conveyor system and QUICKSTORE miniloads for order consolidation. Vanderlande Industries also delivered a flexible Warehouse Management System. The total goods inventory consists of 100.000 different items with an average of 4.000 orderlines delivered every day. The system resulted in high availability of spare parts, automatic inventory control and efficient goods turnover.
