Carlsberg: Preventive overhaul of a high-bay warehouse for the benefit of the environment

  • Carlsberg: Preventive overhaul of a high-bay warehouse for the benefit of the environment

More operational safety through the modernization of storage and retrieval systems

The Danish brewery Carlsberg has been using SEW-EURODRIVE technology in the form of gearmotors since 2008. Four gearmotors are installed in each of the total of eighteen 40-meter high stacker cranes, which are used to store and retrieve beer bottles. Due to the age of the plant, it was time to modernize the systems. This involved completely overhauling the existing gearmotors instead of replacing them with new drives.

The project at a glance

Getränkeindustrie
  • Customer: Carlsberg A/S, Fredericia in Denmark
  • Equipment manufacturer: SSI Schäfer, Giebelstadt, Germany
  • Application: High-bay warehouse in Fredericia, Denmark
  • Sector: Beverage industry

On November 10, 1847, J.C. Jacobsen founded the Carlsberg company in Copenhagen, Denmark. After decades of research and continuous development, Carlsberg is now one of the world's top three breweries, selling 114 million bottles of beer a day. From the Hamburg cult beer Astra, to the typical North German Holsten, Carlsberg is broadly positioned. The main focus here, in addition to high quality, is of course on the issue of sustainability, which is promoted, among other things, through sustainable resource procurement. Thanks to strong partners, the Carlsberg Group is able to offer its products in over 100 countries worldwide.

In order to avoid capacity bottlenecks in warehouse logistics, the work was carried out one after the other on one storage and retrieval system at a time, in a so-called ring swap. The individual gearmotors were removed and reinstalled in each aisle at a height of six meters. In this way, every two weeks a used gearmotor was exchanged for a freshly overhauled drive. Each exchange of a gearmotor on the storage and retrieval system took about five hours.

Service Center Vejle, Denmark
Service Center Vejle, Denmark
Service Center Vejle, Denmark

SEW-EURODRIVE was responsible for:

  • Removal of a total of 18 900 kg gearmotors (with brake, encoder, oil expansion tank and temperature sensor).
  • transport to the Drive Center in Vejle, Denmark
  • electrical and mechanical overhaul of the gearmotors
  • return transport to the customer
  • reinstallation in the customer's stacker cranes
Hoist motor of a storage and retrieval system at Carlsberg in Fredericia
Hoist motor of a storage and retrieval system at Carlsberg in Fredericia
Hoist motor of a storage and retrieval system at Carlsberg in Fredericia
  • Modernization of already existing products
  • Shortening the time required for maintenance work
  • More sustainable and thus more environmentally friendly solution to extend the service life of the system and to ensure operational reliability in the most resource-saving way possible.
  • Close cooperation between SEW-EURODRIVE and SSI Schäfer

Fit for the future

In order to ensure the same operational reliability as in the last 13 years, Carlsberg and SEW-EURODRIVE, together with the equipment manufacturer SSI Schäfer, which is now responsible for the operation and maintenance of the warehouse in Fredericia, have decided that all gearmotors responsible for lifting the load handling device must be checked and overhauled. By modernizing products that are already in place, not only the time for maintenance work is reduced. It is also a more sustainable and therefore environmentally friendly way of extending the service life of a system and ensuring operational reliability in the most resource-efficient way possible. The work took place in close cooperation between SEW-EURODRIVE and SSI Schäfer. All targets were achieved, some even exceeded.

Comments from our customers

Morten Randa, Teamlead Logistics at Carlsberg

"We had a really good cooperation - SEW-EURODRIVE, SSI Schäfer and Carlsberg. There are always challenges with projects like this, where you have to replace a 900 kg gearmotor while it is running, but we solved them very well together. With the completion of the project, we have improved operational reliability, and we no longer have any unplanned stops of the gearmotor. And of course we are very happy about that."

Tobias Møller-Madsen, Construction manager at SSI Schäfer

"Since commissioning, the SSI Schaefer service team has been permanently on site and ensures maximum efficiency of the intralogistics system and its excellent performance. The service employees support Carlsberg in monitoring, controlling, and immediately eliminating malfunctions. Together with SEW-EURODRIVE, we are able to provide Carlsberg with the latest technologies without downtime. We are very satisfied with the cooperation and the results we have achieved together."

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