Hall: 21 Stand: K10
A small box warehouse provides 164,000 carton box spaces
handles between seven and eight thousand orders line a day on a two-shift system that employs 30 people. Accuracy is also a prerequisite in meeting the needs of
customers of the calibre Keller & Kalmbach services. Of course, a sophisticated warehouse management integrates a series of checks and balances but there is also clear evidence of simple, straightforward thinking. For example, empty KLTs are stored in the small box warehouse. When the customer order is entered the system selects not just the product but also the empty bin to take it, ensuring a one to one relationship that minimises potential error. Easy in hindsight, but someone has to see the need in the beginning. Something that is true of many facets of this impressive operation.
History of Keller & Kalmbach Keller & Kalmbach was founded in 1878 and, as an early
catalogue attests, even then was a distributor of screws as well as blacksmith supplies. At the time the products were manufactured in the north of Germany, with Keller & Kalmbach providing distribution for Bavaria and some parts of Austria. The company was successful but continuity became an issue as neither of the two founders, who gave their names to the business, had children. Hence, since 1908, the company has been owned and managed by the Seidl family. Horse gave way to internal combustion engine and pre-war Keller & Kalmbach was slow to adapt. It wasn’t until after the Second World War that the company emphatically changed direction to target the industrial market. Keller & Kalmbach became the market leading distributor to
Bavarian industry and in 1960 began to supply the automotive manufacturing sector, starting with Audi and Glas (the latter absorbed by BMW in the 1960s). Agricultural equipment manufacturers also provided an important customer base. Growth and the difficulty of expanding in a central Munich location led to the relocation of Keller & Kalmbach to its current head office location, west of the city at Unterschleissheim.
Looking forward Today Keller & Kalmbach focuses on three market sectors.
The industrial business remains the largest. The requirements of the automotive business continue to be serviced from Unterschleissheim, which is home to a special parts warehouse as well as automotive quality control and sales. It is also the head office, housing central departments, including purchasing, finance and systems. Keller & Kalmbach is also the market leader in Germany to the rail and train industry and has a smaller but good MRO business. Five years ago Keller & Kalmbach started to develop more
internationally. In the east of Europe it now has branches in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Romania and Austria. It also now has an operation that supports customers in China. In Germany there are eight ‘shops’ servicing MRO with both fasteners and tools. Goods can be collected from the branch but customer deliveries are always despatched direct from the central warehouse in Hilpostein. More than half of Keller & Kalmbach’s turnover today is in
logistic systems, with customers being offered a variety of solutions. While the mainstay remains relatively conventional kanban systems, Keller & Kalmbach offers systems featuring load sensors to detect bin presence and sophisticated solutions using RFID technology. Behind the scenes Keller & Kalmbach is always looking
at standardising the processes to make itself as flexible and efficient as possible. It is an approach that fits the company motto of being fit, fair and friendly – Its processes are lean, it’s fair to its customers and suppliers, and believes everybody should be friendly. With an operation supplying more than 50,000 stock lines,
which support approaching 1,000 logistics installations and a total of around 20,000 customers; with an annual turnover exceeding 200 million euros, sustaining some 600 employees; there can be no question that the philosophy works.
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