Wampfler Equips Europe’s Largest High-Storage Warehouse

Energy supply systems for 24 storage aisles which are 290 meters long / 0812 conductor rail systems for Quinn Glass’s high-storage warehouse at Liverpool, UK / Stöcklin Limited UK is the ordering party

Weil am Rhein, Germany; September 2005. Wampfler AG, one of the world’s leading suppliers of mobile energy supply and data transmission as well as handling systems is equipping Europe’s largest high-storage warehouse in the UK with conductor rail systems. The order from Stöcklin Ltd. UK, a subsidiary of the Swiss Stöcklin Logistik AG, includes the production, delivery and assembly on site. The high-storage warehouse in Ince at Liverpool, UK belongs to the Irish glass manufacturer Quinn Glass and has a floor area about the size of 9 football fields.

24 storage aisles, each 290 meters long, have to be supplied with power on site. “Due to the voltage drop at this length with simultaneous end feed at the gas head, we decided to implement the Wampfler conductor rail system Program 0812,” explained Georg Bongartz, Project Manager at Wampfler AG in Weil am Rhein, Germany. This is a seven pole conductor rail system, which ensures the 24 picking units are supplied with energy and are transmitted control signals that are relevant for safety. “For the energy supply, we are using aluminum rails, for transmitting the ‘Emergency Stop’ and ‘Release’ control signals, we are using steel rails,” stated Mr. Bongartz. About 28 kilometers of aluminum rails will be used, and about 21 kilometers of steel rails will be used. In addition, 4,800 supports are to be attached and anchored in the ground in order to mount the conductor rails.

International Project Processing

The contractor of Stöcklin Ltd. UK is Wampfler Co.Ltd. UK. The technical engineering and the logistics concept originated from Wampfler in Weil am Rhein, Germany. Due to the formidable dimensions of the warehouse, a logistics process with five delivery steps was selected. The production of the conductor rails in Weil, Germany takes place in coordination with the construction status, in this case. For each delivery, material filling two semitrailor trucks is driven to a temporary warehouse at the construction site. Finally, specialists from Wampfler are on site supervising the assembly being carried out by an authorized company. “We have already mounted about 50 percent of the conductor rails,” stated Mr. Bongartz regarding the status of the project. The glass production has already commenced and available areas of the high-storage warehouse are already being used parallel to the assembly work being carried out. By the end of this year, Europe’s largest high-storage warehouse will be fully operational.