If you are in the logistics hall of our campus, you are surrounded by large metal frames and parts wrapped in plastic, boxes of smaller parts, ceiling-high racking and various storage systems. Forklifts move back and forth with large pallets filled with parts needed to make the most innovative steel processing machines. Hard work is being done here, by the logistics staff and forklift drivers. Together they make sure that all parts and materials are at the right time and place.

Incoming goods arrive from our colleagues in the Production department a little further on our campus (make parts), or from other parties where we purchase ready-made parts that are too small to make ourselves, for example (buy parts). These incoming goods are taken from the trucks by a forklift driver, after which logistics employees register the goods: they check whether everything has been delivered and give it a storage location. This can be done in two ways; as a project - when the part is already destined for a specific project for a customer - or as inventory. Then the part is stored, for example in our Kardex system, and used when a machine for which this part is needed is made.

As soon as the Assembly & Production department is ready for the next project, team Logistics comes into action. A machine is built in phases and team Logistics receives an order for exactly which parts are needed for the next phase. This can vary from project to project. Some machines are built from thousands of parts, and one phase may require five parts, or two hundred. Small parts are retrieved from the Kardex storage system, larger parts from shelving. These parts are stored together in the Lalesse system, where it remains until the start of the project - often just under a week later. When all parts are gathered together, they are transferred to the right workstation. Only the largest parts such as the frame of a machine are still missing. These are moved to the right workplace with the bridge crane. Within the Logistics Department, our colleagues have different tasks, but together they have one very important goal: making sure that all the required materials are at the right time and place.