Belimo has automated its Shanghai production site with a stacker-crane system supplied by TGW, replacing manual handling that had run into a ceiling on both throughput and storage. The Swiss manufacturer builds actuators, sensors and meters for heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems.
Why the plant needed automation
The Shanghai facility was running out of room. Manual operations capped how much stock the site could hold and how fast it could pick orders, and demand kept climbing. Rather than extend the footprint, Belimo rebuilt its storage and picking flow around automation.
Inside the system
TGW installed a solution built on its Mustang R stacker cranes. It runs across two aisles at a height of 21 metres and holds more than 11,000 double-deep locations. Each aisle can move up to 280 bins per hour. Small parts travel from storage to several pick stations over an extended KingDrive conveyor network, keeping operators supplied on a goods-to-person basis.
What it delivers
The automated warehouse lifted storage capacity, raised productivity and cut running costs at the site, according to TGW. For a components maker feeding a global HVAC market out of China, that mix counts for more than raw scale.
Belimo joins a lengthening list of industrial manufacturers turning to dense, high-bay automation to wring more out of the sites they already run instead of building new ones.
