Comprehensive digital management instead of pen and paper

From complete lock mechanisms and other mechanical components to door handles and fuel tank caps for Škoda Auto and other car manufacturers, BRANO's business encompasses a wide range of products. Recently, the company took a significant step in logistics by investing in warehouse digitalization with the aim of minimizing human involvement. This project was detailed at the TAL 2023 conference by BRANO's technologist Denis Kittrich, alongside Aimtec's Project Manager Jiří Žižka.

A purely Czech company with Czech ownership and headquarters in Hradec nad Moravicí, BRANO's products find their way into almost every car in the world. Supplying manufacturers across all continents, the company employs approximately 2,300 people. In 2020, the firm recognized that while they had long been making significant investments in production, their approach to logistics was more fitting for the 20th century than the 21st. Logistics had been isolated from production, with records still maintained using pen and paper. The goal of the pilot modernization project was to build a new automated warehouse, directly connected to production, with comprehensive digital management of not only automation but also surrounding logistics processes.

Automated Warehouse Connected to Production

The project had to be tailored to the "business reality" of BRANO. The logistics concept had to accommodate 25 assembly lines and approximately 400 types of materials. "We calculated that we needed throughput into the warehouse for 300 transport units—KLT boxes—and out of the warehouse for 250 of these units, with continuous availability of the warehouse 24 hours a day," Denis Kittrich explains in his presentation.

"It was also important that we had to connect all the technology suppliers and ensure they all met a specific milestone to align perfectly so we could launch the new warehouse and its related processes," Denis Kittrich describes the fourth major challenge. This involved coordinating seven suppliers, including Aimtec, which oversaw the entire project with its management system. As a final crucial aspect, Denis Kittrich mentions the employees. They had to adapt to an entirely new approach to their work and learn to operate within the modernized logistics system.

How exactly were all the technologies integrated into one functional logistics unit? And what does such a fully automated project look like at BRANO? Watch the presentation (in Czech) or download the case study.