DSV builds automated logistics hub in Norway with Jungheinrich

DSV, a Danish transport and logistics service provider with worldwide operations, has built a new 16,000-square-metre logistics centre together with Jungheinrich at its site in Vestby south of Oslo. The new building consists of a fully automated warehouse with 35,000 pallet locations, operated by nine driverless narrow-aisle trucks of the EKX 516a type from Jungheinrich. The logistics solution also includes 25,000 additional pallet locations in a manual storage.

The EKX 516a narrow-aisle trucks are equipped for manual loading processes at the end of a shift, with the Vestby operation being designed for a five-day week in two-shift operation. The trucks move automatically in the 32 aisles, each 80 metres long, of the ten-metre high high-bay warehouse. Jungheinrich also supplied the Warehouse Control System (WCS) software, which communicates with the DVS warehouse management system via an interface.

The technical highlight in Vestby consists of an intelligent combination: The pallets are manually fed into the automated warehouse without space-consuming conveyor technology. This saves time, money and space. The goods are brought to checkpoints by manually operated Jungheinrich reach trucks of the ETV series before they are automatically stored in the high-bay warehouse. The entire system environment of the DSV warehouse also comes from Hamburg: the stations for checking the pallets' contours, the access controls as well as the security fences and gates.

"DSV is continuously investing in the efficiency and optimisation of its logistics processes," says Ulf Erik Kruger Solheim, Managing Director at DSV Solutions AS, about the strategy behind the automation project in Norway. "The long-standing cooperation and our very good experience with Jungheinrich as a partner were the decisive factors in winning the contract for the Hamburg-based company in this project".

Since the order was received in November 2019, Jungheinrich has been working as a general contractor on the complete solution from a single source - from planning and implementation to subsequent customer service. Even the Corona crisis and the temporary, Europe-wide border closures could not deter the intralogistics expert.

In order not to jeopardise the schedule, Jungheinrich had to think out of the box several times during the project: "Covid restrictions and closed borders gave us challenges in getting the intended resources and expertise to Norway, but we have managed to solve the situation with the use of local resources and technology for remote assistance. This would not have been possible without a solution oriented mindset and a good and constructive collaboration between DSV and Jungheinrich. I am proud of how we all have solved the obstacles that the Corona restrictions have given us," says Jens Gjerlaug, Manager Logistics System, Jungheinrich Norway.