C.E. Pattberg boosts efficiency

C.E. Pattberg GmbH & Co. KG — or C.E. Pattberg — is a legendary family business that was founded in 1893 in Germany. At first, the company produced only raffia ribbons but later expanded its offering to gifts and a variety of decorative ribbons.

C.E. Pattberg is known worldwide for its wide range of decorative ribbons and bows, sold under the brand name Präsent. Although they process high volumes of orders throughout the year, Christmas time is the peak season for this company that exports over 30% of its goods.

Previously, the warehouse storage space in Hättingen occupied 6,000 square meters (64,583 square feet), and order pickers walked along narrow aisles and shelves to handpick incoming orders. This method was costly, time-consuming, and physically exhausting for the staff, who ended up walking many kilometers per day. The picking error rates were also relatively high.

To solve these problems in the warehouse, C.E. Pattberg had already committed themselves to an automated mini-load system. However, they soon realized it couldn’t easily accommodate future expansion and the system would quickly reach its limit. At this point, the company decided to install AutoStore on the advice of systems integrator, Dematic.

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How AutoStore works at C.E. Pattberg

C.E. Pattberg’s AutoStore system was put into operation six months after the company decided to go with automation. Here’s what it looks like:

• The aluminum grid occupies a space of 170 square meters (1,830 square feet) — 5,830 square meters (62,753 square feet) smaller than the previous storage space. The business now uses the extra space for shipping and preparing large orders.
• There are 7,755 Bins in the grid, which is 16 layers deep. Each Bin can contain between 13 and 300 items.
• A total of 8 Robots glide over the grid at a rate of about 3 meters (9.8 feet) per second. First, they retrieve Bins containing ordered items; then, they return them to a location at the top of the grid.
• C.E. Pattberg is currently using one of the Ports (or workstations) to induct incoming goods and the other for retrieval from the system.
• The AutoStore system can do 1,100 picks per day, and approximately 70% of orders can be retrieved from the AutoStore storage grid. Articles that can’t be stored in the system because of their size are stored in high-bay warehouses and picked manually.

The advantages of the AutoStore system

The installation of this automated warehouse system has brought many benefits to this gift and ribbon manufacturer. Greater efficiency and a significant reduction in the error rate are two of those. They’ve also greatly benefited from the system’s ability to cope with increased orders at peak times.

“We’ve significantly increased our throughput speed. This saves both operating and personnel costs,” says Daniel Pattberg, CEO of C.E. Pattberg.

Optimal usage of storage space is another advantage. “There’s no other system that stores small parts as compactly as AutoStore,” says Frank Bredemeier, Dematic’s Senior Sales Manager. As a result, there’s space in the warehouse for future expansion.

The system has also greatly reduced costs with regards to energy consumption and staff expenditure. The work is much less arduous for the current employees, as they no longer have to walk long distances to pick orders or print labels. There’s also been a drastic reduction in the training time required for staff.

“We no longer need employees who are familiar with the products. Order picking is so quick and easy that anyone can understand and use the system efficiently after 10 to 15 minutes of initial training,” Pattberg adds.

The system is geared to be expanded to a total of 19 Robots, if and when necessary. “The company is well equipped for the future,” concludes Pattberg.