The Witt Group, based in Weiden, is one of the oldest shipping houses for textiles in Germany. To meet the growing online business, in 2020 it decided to expand the existing logistics site and increase the sorting capacity by 50 percent.

ECI drive replaces pneumatics
The intralogistics specialist BEUMER Group was looking for a sustainable drive solution for the Witt Group sorting systems that replaces conventional pneumatic drives for flap controls. The ECI 63 drive from ebm‑papst was chosen. "In addition to the desired efficiency and sustainability, it also provides our systems with that extra level of precision and intelligence," explains André Sielemann, Controls Manager Logistic Systems at the BEUMER Group.

The 275-meter-long sorting system in Weiden has been in use since fall 2021. Five semi-automatic feeding units pick up batches of clothing that have already been picked. Using camera reading, the sorting system automatically identifies the items and measures their volume for correct dimensioning of the packages. In the discharge units, they sort the items into the original customer orders in over 290 chambers. This equates to over 10,000 items per hour, 20 hours a day, six days a week.

Greater efficiency with servo drive
The ECI 63 drives from ebm‑papst are responsible for opening and closing the flaps as required. The advantage of servo drives is that they are much less susceptible to maintenance and servicing than pneumatic drives. For example, this lowers the service costs while at the same time reducing the total operating costs. Modern EC technology in these servo drives ensures increased efficiency and sustainability. They feature additional control electronics and sensors and are IoT-capable. Due to its size, the ECI 63 is very well suited to intralogistics solutions. "The EtaCrown angular gearbox also contributes towards the desired efficiency and energy saving, even if the drive is already very efficient and has a high power density in itself," explains Markus Psik, Project Coordinator for Industrial Drive Technology at ebm‑papst.

Predictive maintenance thanks to communicative drives
The GreenIntelligence of the ECI 63 enables both the system manufacturer and operator to obtain machine data easily and in real time. This brings important added value for the systems in terms of predictive maintenance. The data are prepared by the BEUMER BG Insight software solution and can be viewed at any time via smart data dashboards. As a result, the systems themselves are becoming ever more intelligent and the availability on site can be constantly improved.