MWM opens its new spare parts centre - i+o puts together an all around carefree package from searching for a location to implementation

Heidelberg - Dec 10, 2009

MWM GmbH relocated their spare parts logistics from Cologne to Lorsch (“Hessische Bergstraße”) in the course of a restructuring in the beginning of November. i+o Industrieplanung + Organisation had been entrusted with planning and realizing the new logistics centre by MWM GmbH, the worldwide leading supplier of systems of electricity generation. The Heidelberger consulting company only needed nine months to realize the relocation of the global parts sector. The scope of services included, in addition to real property and service provider search, system planning, steering of the tendering procedure, and supplier management of logistics and IT as well as relocation planning and the subsequent project support.

MWM used to belong to Deutz Group. Since its sale to the British financial investor 3i in 2007, the long-established company which had been founded by Carl Benz has signed with its today’s name. The expert for gas and diesel engines to win electric energy has another ten subsidiaries all around the world besides its headquarters in Mannheim. “The decision to centralize our spare parts logistics in Lorsch was a strategic one“, explains Rainer Gadinger, Service Logistics Manager. “We hope for more efficiency and synergies in favour of our supply chain by the close proximity to the production site in Mannheim“.

After the whole equipment and IT systems within the hired portfolio property had been planned and realized in only nine months’ time, the new MWM logistics centre Lorsch which is located approx. 30 km away from its headquarters in Mannheim was started on November 1st, 2009. On a 12,000 sq-m site of space for storage, the company has since managed the worldwide dispatch of spare parts to customers as well as the area-wide supply of 200 MWM service centres in total. About 200 customer orders are completed each day. “This tight time frame was a special challenge for us“, reviews Rainer Diez, i+o Project Manager and i+o Partner. “We had to find a real property, we had to make arrangements, test and start operating on going concern – The spare parts logistics had never been stopped during the entire course of the project.“

Another specific characteristic that made it difficult to handle MWM intralogistics was as follows: The MWM range of products is highly complex and varies from a sealing ring of 5g to large components, e.g. clutch housing of a load weight of 18t. After a comprehensive demand analysis conducted by the Heidelberger consulting company, the small parts warehouse which consists on the one hand of a manual, three storey small-parts shelving, and on the other hand, of a semi-automatic paternoster system, has become the core of the technical concept. A local Warehouse Management System (WMS) has been in charge of managing all activities in the new spare parts centre.
 
Modern RF handhelds with a graphical surface arrange for a faster order processing and communication.

In addition, i+o was responsible for service provider enquiries within the tendering procedure. During the implementation phase, so-called “Key Performance Indicators” provided for transparency between all project members. “These indicators had been an important controlling instrument and a measure of a constant quality assurance as well as of deadline monitoring“, adds Mr. Diez.