Wanko and the KRAFT Baustoffe GmbH

Munich Airport, the Allianz Arena or even the Pinakothek der Moderne (museum of modern art) - they are all presentable architectural examples to which KRAFT Baustoffe GmbH has contributed. In southern Germany, the Munich-based group of companies is one of the leading building materials distributors of branded products in the segment of roofing materials and façade technology, gardening and landscaping, structural and civil engineering, flooring and much more. It employs around 300 people at six locations in the Bavarian capital and one in Mönchengladbach/NRW and generates annual sales of around 180 million euros. 6,000 active customers currently purchase their building products from the specialist retail group.

Initial situation and search for optimization
In 2007, in order to make the processes more transparent, so that all those involved have an even better overview of order processing and this can be carried out more quickly, a warehouse management system was sought that could provide complete documentation of the warehouse processes with traceability of all movements from goods receipt to goods issue, including the mapping of minimum and maximum stocks and the turnover rate. Decisive search criteria were also that, firstly, the IT solution should be a complete system from a single source for warehousing and transport, including telematics, secondly, that it should function smoothly at the interface to the Unitrade® merchandise management system, and thirdly, that it should be an industry-tested software solution just like the ERP system.

Integrated logistics control system
In Europe, Wanko Informationslogistik GmbH, based in Ainring, Bavaria, is one of the few providers to have developed a logistics control system that covers the entire logistics chain around warehousing and transport. Their logistics system works with a uniform database and consists of the coordinated main modules PraMag for warehouse management, PraCar for tour planning and PraBord as a telematics solution. These can be used individually, but only the combination of WMS, TPS and telematics has the efficiency to map the complete transport chain between locations and beyond company boundaries. Due to the elimination of internal interfaces, the integrated and transparent solution enables cost-optimized planning, execution and monitoring of the entire flow of goods for companies in industry, trade and logistics services.

IT system
Four modern branches work with the complete Wanko product family. At the other locations, the use of the software is not yet practical due to their size. The interaction of the products with each other is rated as effective by the logistics managers at Kraft due to the transparency, flexibility and speed of the system. With the modules PraMag, PraCar und PraBord wethe processes are controlled continuously and take place system-supported in permanent automatic coordination with the actual conditions of the daily business. The close interaction of tour planning and warehouse management also enables dynamic control of the warehouse, where the degree of automation in process control from ordering to delivery has been increased. By using the telematics module, KRAFT automatically receives the necessary status information from the vehicles. This means that proactive action can be taken in good time in the event of deviations from the plan.

Ongoing optimizations
Since the introduction of the Wanko Suite, ongoing optimizations of the systems continue to take place. For example, picking has been handled automatically using PraMag since summer 2020. In the warehouse at the Munich-Aubing site, an interface for a Jungheinrich lift rack for automated small parts storage was set up at the end of 2020. Furthermore, the conversion of the MDEs is currently taking place, which will include better graphic display in the future. In the PraCar area, forecasting times and alarm management are being optimized on an ongoing basis.

For more than 10 years, the Wanko Suite has been in use at KRAFT Baustoffe GmbH, helping to optimize operational processes and make them more efficient. Wanko Informationslogistik GmbH is looking forward to continue working closely with KRAFT in the future.