Ellerhold Group: Ziendorf, Germany

Yale and Ellerhold Group: Making headlines with customised warehouse solution

Ellerhold-main.jpgFounded in 1987 in the town of Zirndorf, near Nuremberg, Ellerhold Group has developed into a well-known poster printing company, with a staff of 600 employees in Germany and a total turnover of around €76 million.

With a total investment of €3 million, Ellerhold Group built a new two-storey administrative and production building in 2015, including a warehouse on an area of about 1,500m2.

One particular characteristic of the Ellerhold business is the curved roof in the storage area of the print shop, which presents the intralogistics supplier with major challenges, because off-the-shelf storage technology solutions cannot be used. This is where Yale has played an integral role.

Yale: a modern, scalable solution

“In the market the name Ellerhold stands not only for high-quality printing products, but also for on-time delivery,” says Bernd Schmidt, CEO of Ellerhold in Zirndorf. “For this reason we wanted to equip our warehouse with a modern intralogistics solution that even with continued growth offers a degree of scalability. Among the many proposed solutions, the Yale concept was the only one that convinced us immediately.”

The new high-bay warehouse now includes a total of four aisles, each with seven levels, to a length of 17m and a shelf height of 7.5m. In order to display the four aisles and thus 900 pallet bays, the aisle had to be designed to a width of 1.65m.

“Due to the fact that the hall layout could not be modified any more, it was very difficult to meet the requirements with standard shelving systems”, explains Martin Gärth, V.M.L Consultant at M.+ S. Bauer, a Nuremberg based Yale dealer.

“A customised shelf solution was necessary so that we were able to deliver perfectly with the PowerPal® pallet racking system, as the manufacturer provides custom dimensions. With the flexible PowerPal-shelf systems, Yale has utilised the available space optimally, to offer a high-bay warehouse for around 900 pallet spaces in an area of approximately 500m2.”

Real space saver in narrow aisles

The Yale narrow aisle truck MTC10 was especially designed for applications where a maximum utilisation of storage space is important in the warehouse. The truck at Ellerhold has a lifting height up to 7,800mm with a capacity of one tonne. Through the use of a pantograph the width of the vehicle has been reduced to 1,420mm.

Tailored to customer requirements

The narrow aisle truck at Ellerhold was adapted to the specific application in the high-bay racking. Here, a safe distance must be respected so that vehicle and rack system are not damaged. To handle the slow-movers above the roof-mounted area safely and efficiently, the vehicle is guided inductively. In the aisle the vehicle can drive at 8km / h again. Thanks to these adjustments on the vehicle Yale could tune the truck to the shelving system and so take advantage of the space in the warehouse perfectly.

Yale and Ellerhold: a 25 year old proven partnership

In addition to the new MTC10 narrow aisle truck, Ellerhold owns a Yale GLP20SVX forklift, an MP16 rider pallet truck and a Yale MS10C pedestrian stacker. “With the planning of our new warehouse and its intralogistics concept, M. + S. Bauer has once again underlined their special expertise in intralogistics. For any other proposed solution we would have had many fewer pallet bays”, concludes Bernd Schmidt. “The Yale solution fully satisfied all of my demands: Yale has made the most of little space with the latest technology and at a fair price.”

What Our Customers Are Saying

"The Yale solution fully satisfied all of my demands: Yale has made the most of little space with the latest technology and at a fair price."

Bernd Schmidt - CEO of Ellerhold in Zirndorf, Ellerhold Group