Inter Cars offer includes two million spare parts and accessories for passenger cars and trucks as well as semi-trailers, trailers, buses and agricultural machinery. The offer is also available to mechanics, with parts, tools and service equipment at their disposal. The control over such a huge number of articles is a big challenge for logistics.
Inter Cars SA belongs to the largest distributors of spare parts for passenger cars, delivery vans and lorries in Central and Eastern Europe. The company has several hundred branches in Poland and abroad, including in neighboring countries: Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia and Ukraine, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece and Romania. It is also the owner of a nationwide network of Perfect Service and Q-Service (including Q-Service Truck), which consists of a total of about one thousand service points.
Inter Cars created a database of 77 truck services in Poland and 1 in Ukraine. Motointegrator search engine is another product offered by Inter Cars, which helps drivers find the nearest truck repair service. Such a large scale of operation means thousands of commercial operations a day. Therefore, the Inter Cars logistics system must be prepared to deliver up to 10 million parcels a year.
The existing logistics center in Czosnów has long been unable to cope with the enormous number of stored and shipped parts. Therefore, new ones were built. The ILS logistics center located in Zakroczym is one of the most recent investments of this kind in logistics for the automotive sector. It opened last year and the warehouse is implementing all key logistics tasks:
– accepting goods from suppliers,
– execution of orders and delivery of goods to clients,
– returns handling,
– cross-docking,
– confectioning services.
It consists of four halls, of which the main has an area of almost 40 thousand square meters, and the remaining nearly 5 thousand square meters. The main warehouse is 10 m high, and at its heart is a complete 4-level racking, with 17 thousand pallet places and 18 thousand shelf places and a belt conveyor system with a total length of approximately 11 km. Goods are accepted and delivered using about forty warehouse gates.
Sorters speed up the work of the warehouse
The warehouse is equipped with a specially designed sorting system, thanks to which it is possible to sort 30 thousand pieces of goods within an hour. Such capabilities are possible thanks to crossbelt sorter and shoe sorter.
Photo: ILS
The first of these is a cross-belt sorter that allows sorting of approximately 20 thousand pieces of goods per hour. After scanning, the goods are manually entered on moving tapes, which can divert to both the left and right. The operation of directing the product to the appropriate discharge takes place by mechanical rotation of the tape. The sorter has 720 discharges. A unique solution is the discharge of heavy goods (brake discs) and light goods (bulbs). The dump speed and braking must be adjusted so as not to damage sensitive goods.
An important element of sliding shoe sorter is the conveyor made of extruded aluminum slats, whose construction is a closed surface, which prevents goods from falling. The elements slide along the slats of the conveyor, changing the direction of the transported products gently, towards the ramp leading to the collection point. The system allows sorting on one or both sides of the line. This machine is used only for sorting packages or shipping containers.
The whole is managed by an IT system. The role of employees comes down mainly to the programming of individual tasks, as well as to supervision.
Photo: Pixabay/blickpixel