SMS Logistiksysteme of Germany has successfully started up a comprehensive logistics system for hot and cold rolled aluminum coils at the rolled products facilities of Asia Alum in Zhaoqing City, Guangdong Province, China in the past months.

The hot coils, delivered to the inspection line by rail bound coil transport cars are inspected there and then taken to the high bay storage system. Integrated into the transport line is a strapping machine which binds the coils at their circumference to ensure safety during transport and storage.

The heart of the coil logistics system is the two aisle high bay store which can hold a total of 1,9/2 aluminum coils weighing up to 21.51 and with a maximum temperature of 450 °C on eleven storage levels. Three stacker cranes are provided for handling in the storage aisles. The high bay store is designed to enable the storage and retrieval of an average of 57 coils an hour.

The temperature inside the storage facility is regulated by a ventilation cooling system that enables hot coils to be rapidly cooled to the required temperature before further processing in the cold rolling mills.

Linkage of the high bay storage facility to the cold rolling complex is likewise achieved by means of rail bound coil transport cars and two bay cranes. With the aid of these transport systems material can be taken from the storage facility to the next production stage or temporarily stored in the storage facility.

Besides the hardware, SMS Logistiksysteme also supplied level 1 automation for the incoming and outgoing transport equipment and for the stacker cranes. A warehouse management system to ensure optimum distribution of the coils inside the storage facility and guarantee optimum production flow was designed for the storage facility itself. The WMS also continuously monitors the cooling down behavior of the hot coils and releases them for the next production step.

The WMS independently develops alternatives for maintaining the production process and dynamically selects the appropriate transport combinations. The WMS and the level 1 systems of the various means of coil transport are linked to the customer's production control system and exchange all the relevant data with it. Following a successful start up, the fully automated logistics system was handed over to the customer in June 2011.