KWS

As part of the expansion of production capacities for the processing of sugar beet seed at the Einbeck site, the seed specialist KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA commissioned the company OHRA to build a storage area in which the seed is stored under climate-controlled conditions. The pallet rack supplied by the Kerpen-based storage technology specialists offers space for approx.100 special seed containers. The plant also includes a steel construction platform on which the seeds are filled into the storage boxes automatically via a tipping device. The platform and racking are enclosed and form a covered unit so that the containers weighing up to 600 kilograms can be transported directly from the tipping station to the storage location in the racking using a stacker crane.

Great climate for seeds

Seed specialist KWS is investing heavily in the expansion and modernisation of its sugar beet seed production at its Einbeck location. As part of these measures, a new storage area was created where the seeds are stored under climate-controlled conditions. The seeds are filled automatically into special storage boxes and stored with a stacker crane. OHRA supplied a racking system precisely tailored to these storage containers as well as a steel construction platform on which the system for loading and unloading the containers is installed.

Project data

Client: KWS
Location: Einbeck, Germany
Year of construction: 2021
Advantage: Solution from one source, incl. RBG from Köttgen and integration of tipping device

Industry: Landwirtschaft
Products: Pallet rack
Storage system: Pallet rack, steel construction platform
Stored goods: Seeds in special containers

Enclosure creates constant climate

To create constant, defined environmental conditions for the seeds, the entire racking system is enclosed. The special storage boxes, together with the air conditioning of the storage area, ensure that parameters such as temperature or humidity can be set easily and reliably. The entire process of filling or transferring the containers is fully automatic.

Unit of racking, platform, and stacker crane

For this storage area, OHRA supplied and installed a 27.3-metre-long pallet rack, which provides storage space for approx. 100 of the storage containers weighing up to 600 kilograms. Directly connected to the racking is a steel construction platform also supplied by OHRA. The tipping device is installed on top of it, via which the seeds transported by conveyor belts or bucket elevators are filled into storage containers positioned below. The containers are then picked up and stored by a stacker crane from Köttgen, which, like OHRA, belongs to the Hölscher Group. The brackets and the guide rail for the stacker crane were guided along the entire length of the system. In this way, the rack and the stage form a single unit. This ensures seamless transport of the containers from the tipping unit to the racking location.

The new racking system makes an important contribution to increasing the capacity of KWS' production facilities. This ensures that the high demand from customers can be met in the future with the expected quality of goods.

About KWS:

KWS is one of the world's leading plant breeding companies. More than 5,700 employees in 70 countries generated a turnover of 1.3 billion euros in the 2019/2020 financial year. For more than 160 years, KWS has been run independently as a family-owned company. The focus is on plant breeding and the production and sale of maize, sugar beet, cereal, rapeseed, sunflower and vegetable seed. KWS uses state-of-the-art plant breeding methods to increase farmers' yields and further improve the resistance of plants to diseases, pests and abiotic stress.