Bosch plants in Feuerbach and Homburg

When it comes to intralogistics, efficiency and flexibility naturally go hand in hand. To increase both, the Bosch plants in Feuerbach and Homburg rely on applications from the Nexeed Industrial Application System from Bosch Connected Industry. The Stock Management application provides maximum transparency of current stock in the intelligent supermarket in Feuerbach, while the Transport Management application enables needs-oriented milk run routes in Homburg.

The Bosch plants in Feuerbach and Homburg (Germany) already had ingenious systems and initial digitalization methods in place before introducing the Nexeed Industrial Application System. Still, efficiency was being hampered by static milk run routes, booking errors and high inventory costs. As is often the case in production plants, Homburg had fixed routes that were followed without fail – irrespective of the actual requirements. Higher transport costs at peak times, particularly through the additional use of AGVs, resulted in greater complexity on the shop floor. Now the Nexeed Industrial Application System increases efficiency in both plants.

The Stock Management application now allows the Feuerbach plant to see real-time bookings, providing maximum transparency regarding the current stock of materials in the supermarket. An automated ordering system makes the employees' work easier and helps to keep material stocks lower. In line with the pull principle, the software only orders what is required. The application also identifies the optimum use of the available lanes to ensure additional space gains. If an employee accidentally sorts materials into the wrong lanes, a "put-to-light" signal notifies them of the error and directs them to the correct aisle. This effectively prevents errors, thereby avoiding time-consuming searches for misplaced stock.

In the Homburg plant, the internal material transport system was also optimized by an application from the Nexeed Industrial Application System. The software provides the necessary transparency, which in turn facilitates a dynamic route planner for all the plant's transport operations. It collates all orders in real time, coordinates them with the data from the milk runs and sends the optimum route straight to the drivers' tablets. They then only drive where they are actually needed. This mitigates the spikes and ensures a more even utilization of the milk run capacity.