The world’s leading industrial planning and consulting company io‑consultants GmbH & Co. KG was BMW’s strategic partner in planning and realizing the further expansion of BMW’s spare parts warehouses in Dingolfing and Wallersdorf. The heart of the three-year project, which covered around 185,000 m², is the new fully automated high-bay warehouse in Dingolfing, which was successfully launched at the end of 2020.
“Thanks to the new 6-aisle, double-deep, 35m-tall high-bay warehouse, more than 70,000 grid boxes can now be stored on approx. 7,300 m². BMW Group has taken a further major step toward implementing its sustainability strategy with this compact and space-efficient storage facility, which, at the same time, substantially reduces the need for frequent replenishments”, says Christian Schindler, project manager at io‑consultants, who is very pleased with the successful project implementation.
Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the high-bay warehouse, which processes full units as well as replenishment functions, went into operation on schedule after only one year of construction. io‑consultants supported BMW Group from the initial strategic concept through to the implementation and ramp-up phase, including relocation planning. It was particularly important to successfully coordinate the construction and logistics lead consultants. In addition, the geological conditions in the vicinity of the Isar River posed a particular challenge for the foundations and construction of the floor plate.
Around 3,500 tons of steel were used to construct the high-bay warehouse. It has a storage and retrieval capacity of up to 150 grid boxes per hour and its connection to the existing electric pallet conveyor is fully automatized. This significantly reduces throughput times for spare parts and ensures on-time customer supply. The expansion of the location also led to a days of supply (DOS) increase, keeping the need for replenishments from remote warehouses to a minimum.
Alongside the expansion project, the existing plant in Dingolfing was also optimized. io‑consultants designed a partly automated packaging unit for medium-sized parts, put it out to tender, and coordinated its implementation and initial operation. This improvement led to more efficient and ergonomic packaging of spare parts. BMW Group also implemented an autonomous tugger train and an autonomous autobox to optimize internal transportation.
The overall project also included expanding the logistics site in Wallersdorf by a hazardous materials warehouse and distribution center. The Wallersdorf site, which was inaugurated in 2016 had also been planned by io‑consultants. Wallersdorf serves as the central goods receiving point for BMW’s centralized spare parts distribution center, known as the ZTA. Here, the entire flow of incoming goods from suppliers will be consolidated and precisely distributed to the respective warehouses.
The spare parts business at the Wallersdorf location is handled by several logistics service providers. io‑consultants was responsible for the entire process – from preparing the tender documents to arranging the technical approval and the subsequent selection and placement of the service providers.
In addition to the conceptual design and implementation of the new logistics locations, io‑consultants planned and coordinated the relocation and ramp-up. A relocation and monitoring tool was developed especially for BMW to control the complex processes. The tool made it possible to move more than 70,000 transportation units with 1,700 truck tours from 9 different warehouse locations within just two years, without affecting the ongoing spare-parts operation.
“We are delighted that the trusting and cooperative partnership between BMW Group and io‑consultants has continued way beyond the successful completion of the new logistics buildings at the Bruckberg and Wallersdorf sites to include the construction of the automated high-bay warehouse and the hazardous materials warehouse”, says Adrian Siegler, Managing Director of io‑consultants. The Heidelberg-based consulting and planning company, has been supporting BMW Group in several other worldwide projects.
