The Customer

Beiersdorf Manufacturing Hamburg GmbH (BMH) is one of 150 subsidiaries of Beiersdorf AG. For over 130 years, this globally active, DAX-listed corporation—which now employs 17,000 people—has been dedicated to the development, production, and marketing of modern skin care products. Production takes place at the company’s largest facility.

With approximately 600 employees at its two plants in Hamburg, BMH is the Beiersdorf Group’s largest production site worldwide. About one-third of Beiersdorf’s global production of NIVEA, Labello, deodorant, aftershave, and other products is manufactured here.

Technical Specifications

• Load capacity: min. 30 kg, max. 1,000 kg per pallet space
• Cargo: EURO wooden pallets (in accordance with DIN 15146, Sheet 2)
• Dimensions (L x W x H): 1,200 x 800 x 1,550 mm
• Overload: none
• Throughput: 50 pallets per hour
• Image: Existing SCHÖNAU conveyor system
• Delivery: to the client-provided “Cargo-Floor” truck shuttle system

Function

BMH’s production center is located in the heart of downtown Hamburg, where space is at a premium. BMH’s finished goods warehouse is conveniently located south of the Elbe River, in close proximity to the port and the highway. The manufactured goods must be transported from the production center to the warehouse as cost-effectively as possible.

To this end, the goods are transported from various production levels to an intermediate level using several Schönau vertical conveyors. A conveyor system, also manufactured by Schönau, sorts the production and stores up to 140 finished pallets during truck traffic restriction hours. Column lifts are used to lower the pallets to be loaded from the intermediate level to the loading dock level.

After type identification and contour inspection, the pallets are aligned in pairs and pre-grouped on a temporary storage area into a compact truckload of 32 pallets in just under 20 minutes. The load prepared in this way is then transferred to the customer’s on-site Cargo-Floor loading system, which can automatically load vehicles equipped with the appropriate Cargo-Floor technology within 5 minutes.

Design Details

In addition to the rework line for pallets with irregular contours or unreadable labels, an intermediate storage line for partial-load pallets and/or pallets containing hazardous materials enables optimized loading with regard to the permissible total weight or the proportion of hazardous materials.

BMH’s customary high safety standards were achieved by installing a large perimeter fence around the facility. The necessary access points were secured with safety light curtains and high-speed doors, and the required service doors were equipped with a Castell double-locking system.

Control

• Siemens Safety PLC S7 315F-2DP
• Various 12-inch color touch panels (Simatic MP377)
• Decentralized peripherals divided into four power cabinets
• On-site operation with system visualization
• Ethernet and Profibus Communication Modules
• Remote Maintenance Module