In the past few years, VEM motors Thurm GmbH in D-08066 Zwickau has grown enormously. The company, which manufactures and supplies electric drive technology in various versions and models, was faced with increasing customer demands for quick delivery of the ordered goods. They wanted to order today and take delivery tomorrow, regardless of whether the items they ordered were electric motors which were in stock or replacement motors or parts for special drives. The increasing sales volume, the related increase in production capacity and the above-mentioned customer demands made it necessary to reorganise and optimise the warehouse and commissioning procedures. The first step in this was to erect a new building with a modern commissioning zone. The second step was to look for a rational and ergonomical material-flow solution, since the considerable increase in the number of cardboard boxes containing the goods, with weights of up to 80 kg, meant that the employees could not handle everything manually.

Handling with vacuum tube lifters improves
productivity in the commissioning department

While looking for and evaluating suitable devices, the company came into contact with the vacuum specialists J. Schmalz GmbH in D-72293 Glatten, whose vacuum handling devices have rationalised material-flow and handling operations in many sectors of industry, thus humanising the work of the people employed there. On-site consulting, planning and design of a commissioning system was carried out by Hans - Hebetechnik + Metallbau GmbH in D-04685 Nerchau. This system was based on three so-called single-beam crane systems and three Schmalz vacuum tube lifters of the type JumboErgo 85. The responsible persons at VEM were quickly convinced of the benefits of handling the goods with vacuum tube lifters and purchased the system, which was installed by Hans - Hebetechnik + Metallbau GmbH. The customer specifications were relatively comprehensive, since the system was to lift cardboard boxes of various sizes, weighing up to 80 kg each, from pallets of pallet stacks, to move these to specific commissioning positions in accordance with the customer orders, and to stack them there up to the maximum permissible height.

Manual handling of cardboard boxes of
various sizes weighing up to 80 kg?

Each vacuum tube lifter is equipped with a double vacuum gripper, whose suction pads can be adjusted longitudinally to any desired position. This means that cardboard boxes of all sizes can be handled with a single gripping system. The gripper is equipped with a 350 mm long tube-cylinder extension as a special accessory, so that single boxes can be lifted from between other stacks of boxes, from the middle of a layer or from skeleton containers. The relatively rigid boxes, which are hooped with plastic, are ideal for quick and safe transport and precise positioning with the aid of the vacuum tube lifter Jumbo. The necessary vacuum is generated by a high-performance vacuum blower of the type Schmalz Blower.