Background
NEWAY CNC focuses on the R&D, production, and sales of medium-to-high-end CNC machine tools, offering over 200 models across series including CNC horizontal lathes, CNC vertical lathes, vertical machining centers, horizontal machining centers, gantry machining centers, and CNC boring-milling machines. Its products have been sold to more than 40 countries and regions worldwide, serving industries such as automotive, construction machinery, mold & die, valves, automation equipment, electronics, aviation, shipbuilding, and general equipment.
Pain Points
As business scale continued to expand, NEWAY CNC faced the following warehousing challenges:
- Severe shortage of warehouse storage space: The existing warehouse could no longer meet the growing material storage demands, and production capacity was constrained by space limitations.
- Inefficient traditional warehousing model: Manual picking was time-consuming and labor-intensive, with long walking distances for operators, affecting overall production efficiency.
- Urgent need to set an industry benchmark: As a leading company in the industry, NEWAY needed to establish a benchmark in smart manufacturing and intelligent warehousing to drive digital transformation.
Solution
After thorough research and evaluation, NEWAY CNC decided to adopt Modula’s automated vertical lift modules. In January 2022, NEWAY CNC Equipment (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. began using 12 Modula VLMs to store machine tool parts.
Leveraging the advantage of Modula VLMs in fully utilizing vertical space, each unit occupies only 14.3㎡ of floor space while providing 280㎡ of effective storage area, maximizing material storage and management. The 12 VLMs, working in conjunction with AGV robots, enable rapid order processing and material flow, significantly reducing warehouse footprint and improving space utilization.
The VLMs transformed the operation from “person-to-goods” to “goods-to-person.” Materials required for orders are automatically delivered to the operator’s picking bay, significantly reducing walking time and distance while greatly improving operational efficiency.
NEWAY CNC uses its SAP management system to manage the entire warehouse and the 12 Modula VLMs in a unified manner. The integration of control software enables order-based access management and seamless connection between intelligent warehouse management and automated production, ensuring full alignment between system records and physical inventory.
In addition, NEWAY equipped the VLMs with multiple picking assistance devices, including laser positioning indicators, LED bin pointing systems, as well as configurations such as built-in dual-tray access, external dual-tray access, and built-in dual-tray with dual picking bays, further improving picking efficiency and accuracy.
