Material Handling

Deutz-Fahr, Lauingen (D)

Europe’s most advanced tractor plant: floor rollers for intralogistics at DEUTZ-FAHR

Cutting-edge technology is used to produce the tractors here. Operations inside this 150,000 m² plant are impressive. The assembly lines run to hundreds of metres long, with a conveyor belt running between them. This conveyor belt is where the tractor unit stands while being put together, one piece at a time, eventually revealing the finished tractor. The 1,650 Wanzl floor rollers come into play here: used as a train system, they transport production components in lattice boxes on schedule and in line with production cycles. In the “supermarkets”, assembly components are made available on the floor rollers on a just-in-time basis, for low-cost and quick, lean production. Depending on the design, the rollers can transport loads of up to a tonne. It takes just 16 hours to fully assemble one of the giant green tractors. From Lauingen, the machines are then sent all over the world, particularly to Western and Eastern Europe, but also to America.
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The samples were created in summer 2016, with Wanzl starting series delivery in August. International logistics supplier Wanzl did not have to go far from home to serve DEUTZ-FAHR:
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Our floor rollers support lean logistics. They are currently used in a train system at DEUTZ-FAHR, equipped with a coupling drawbar mechanism, but can also travel independently as a tugger train. In addition, they can be coupled with a driverless transport vehicle – that's Industry 4.0 in practice.
Markus Spengler, Leiter Geschäftsbereich Wanzl Logistics + Industry