Aachen, April 14, 2004

Successful Application of SyncroTESS at the Meyer-Werft Shipyard in Papenburg

In the huge covered building docks of the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg luxurious cruise liners of more than 300 meters in length are built, following the principle of block and section production. According to the “Lego” pattern, single steel panels are put together to sections which are then combined into blocks. Steel building facilities, material store houses, deposit areas and workshops are situated in other halls on the shipyard. Around 250 cranes, elevators and floor conveyors - amongst them fork lifters, various crane systems and a 800-ton heavy load truck - transport materials, pre-fabricated components and various utilities throughout the shipyard.

Since the end of 2003 the software system SyncroTESS has been controlling and optimizing this complex internal materials flow. The intelligent transport optimizing system controls cranes and fork lifters via a modern radio data transmission network, it manages container slots as well as loading equipment and provides for a just-in-time supply of the numerous production facilities. Shortest routes of transport, minimal deadheading and on-schedule execution of all transport orders have been achieved. Time is saved and productivity increased because the materials flow processes are visible now and resources are utilized in an optimal way.

As SyncroTESS works fully automatically and is able to display the complex activities, it has not been necessary to install a main control center. “This is really remarkable!” says the Managing Director, Mr. Bernard Meyer, “There is not one single person at the control center and still everything works perfectly well!”