Due to the large number of technical solution possibilities, short product cycles and an uncertain market situation, high and long-term investments in intralogistics systems are usually preceded by an elaborate, cost-intensive and long planning project. This is often carried out by experts, general contractors or the system manufacturers themselves, as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular often do not have the personnel or technical capacity to handle the project. The result of these planning projects are customized intralogistics systems that optimally meet the customer's requirements.
Customer-specific development of the warehouse subsystem, among other things, leads to the fact that, despite comparable requirements, project goals and results, the same planning steps with very similar results run parallel and independently of each other in several projects. In this way, each of these projects generates costs that can be significantly reduced by standardization. These avoidable costs affect SMEs in particular, since there is a great need for economic standard solutions due to lower investment volumes and misinvestments have particularly critical effects. In order to simplify, shorten and better secure these planning processes, this research project will initially develop a workflow model to identify technically and economically standardisable planning processes and results. These identified standard solutions are characterized by the fact that they may not optimally but adequately reflect customer requirements. Subsequently, a standardized planning process for the efficient realization of the identified standard solutions will be developed. Standardization also reduces the error-proneness of the planning process and increases planning reliability. In view of the significantly lower investment costs, the significantly shorter project duration and the reduced planning uncertainty, such a standard solution is an economical alternative to the customer-specific individual solution.
In order to achieve the objectives, the project is divided into several work packages (WP). First, a theoretical basis for the further work on the research project will be created in WP 1 by means of a literature search. Based on this, the solution space of the standard solutions will be identified in WP 2. This is defined in WP 3 by means of variable and fixed planning parameters. Among the parameters considered are the bearing dimensions or the loading aids used. Subsequently, the subsystems from which the standard solution is composed are defined in AP 4. In WP 5, the planning procedure for selected projects with an industrial partner is documented and analyzed. This data is used to design a planning process in which the standard solution is planned. The results of work packages 3, 4 and 5 are implemented in a software demonstrator in work package 6. This demonstrator guides the user through the planning process and generates the necessary documentation for the appropriate standard solution. In WP 7, all previous results are combined into a process model for identifying and planning standard solutions in storage system planning. Throughout the entire project, AP 8 is used for the scientific documentation and publication of the research results.