Kamet-Röbäcks boosts operational reliability with accurate warehouse management and automation

Kamet-Röbäcks Oy (formerly Steel-Kamet Oy) transferred a large part of the components required for production and maintenance to the Konecranes Agilon warehouse automation system. Each component is now easily located, ensuring no shortages, saving time, and improving the reliability of operations and deliveries.

Kamet-Röbäcks designs and manufactures concrete mixing plants, precast solutions, heating systems, and related lifecycle services for worksites in the energy, mining, and construction industries worldwide. Its product range encompasses solutions for small to large-scale production, as well as precast solutions and high-mobility concrete mixing plants.

The production, assembly, warehouse, and maintenance operations of the largest operator in the sector in the Nordic countries are located in 3,500 m² facilities in Kalajoki. The company has been in operation for over 40 years and employs approximately 40 people.

Many companies recognize the need to update their warehouse management systems. The number of items was high, and their management took place through manual entries in the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

"The registering of costs manually through the ERP system was time-consuming. Balances could not keep up, and item management was difficult. The shortage of components during assembly resulted in unnecessary stoppages in our manufacturing operations, taking several days in the worst case," says product manager Teemu Kurikkala. Another cause of frequent problems was the difficulty separating components intended for projects from those designed for maintenance.

Managing the external warehouse

Kamet-Röbäcks began using its 10-meter-long, 5.6-meter-tall Konecranes Agilon warehouse management system in 2015. The system has one access point and 800 items required for production and maintenance. Agilon was integrated into the ERP system to meet the customer's needs.

Employees log in to the system using a PIN code or fingerprint. They select the required items by name or product code and assign a job number to each pickup. Ready-made pickup lists are available for standard products.
When an item reaches its balance limit, Agilon automatically creates a purchase order, and the warehouse team or the supplier's representatives handle the necessary refills.

Warehouse employees or the supplier's representatives handle the refills as needed. The company controls items in its external warehouse using the Agilon Mobile app.

Hours saved in purchasing and warehousing

Kurikkala mentions the guaranteed availability of components as the Agilon system's most significant advantage, as it improves the reliability of end-product deliveries. Customers receive the concrete systems they ordered, as agreed, on time.

Warehouse management also made significant leaps forward, as most items are now accessible through a single system. The efficiency of spare parts sales has improved thanks to always up-to-date inventory data. Salespeople can directly tell customers whether the parts they need are in stock.

Automated orders have reduced purchasers’ workloads and eliminated many manual work stages. We now save hours every week in purchasing and warehousing, and several days each year in inventorying, as small items no longer need to be counted manually.

Teemu Kurikkala, Kamet-Röbäcks Product Manager

"Automated orders have reduced purchasers' workloads and eliminated many manual work stages. We now save hours every week in purchasing and warehousing, and several days each year in inventorying, as small items no longer need to be counted manually. Up-to-date inventory balances have eliminated unnecessary part searches and external purchases," Kurikkala says.

Benefits of Agilon in Kamet-Röbäck's warehouse

• Ensuring the availability of components
• Improving delivery reliability
• Enhancing the efficiency of spare parts sales
• Decreasing the buyer's workload and manual work
• More precise post-calculation of projects when item pick-ups and returns are transferred directly to work numbers in Agilon
• Improved inventory management: the inventory became easier and faster
• Stock accounting and project cost monitoring are now more accurate