Almost all well-known suppliers of handling and warehousing components or complete solutions operate within a global environment: distribution centers are set up worldwide, storage and retrieval machines, lifting tables, transfer units, palletizing robots or automated guided vehicles (AGVs) are exported and used in various regions of the world. The gap-free compliance with current and internationally approved standards is thus just as great a challenge for suppliers active worldwide as for the safety-related design of your own intralogistical solution.
Gap-free safety and time savings from the start of the project until acceptance
Safexpert 8.0 is therefore used by producers and equippers of handling and warehousing plants, in particular, as well as their users who, in the case of modifications, also become producers within the sense of the Machinery Directive. For producers of logistical plants, in particular, workflow-oriented use of this intranet- and internet-enabled software opens up the special advantage that different departments, e.g. project planning, mechanical and electrical design, quality assurance, final acceptance and documentation, are simultaneously integrated in an internal CE network. As a result, all departments can work on integrated safety solutions to achieve production progress for a particular machine at the same time, in a coordinated manner and in parallel. This provides substantial time savings for an internal project at a producer who, for example, is supplying a complete material flow system for a high-bay warehouse. Furthermore, installation, commissioning and acceptance at the end-customer is considerably simplified because the documented and individually CE-labeled safety solutions for partial systems, e.g. transfer units, pallet turntables, sorters, conveyor sections, lifting equipment, strapping machines or driverless transverse distribution vehicles, can be linked on site to form a safety-oriented complete solution – and CE-labeled as an entire unit.
Safe logistical solutions in eight steps
Safexpert 8.0 uses a total of eight steps to smooth the path to safe machines and plants:
Safexpert 8.0 provides customized solutions in good time without expensive over-dimensioning of the safety equipment. Always up-to-date and taking all valid standards into account – via online access to full-text standards and via a data interface to the IFA (formerly the BGIA) tool Sistema. The close interrelationships between the eight steps to the CE-label, and the support of design and safety-related workflows, allow parallel development of the safety solution and the legally required documentation – with matching content – during the design phase.
Comprehensive safety thinking, the SICK Logistics Center ‘Plant Walk-through’, the SICK Inspection Seal
As experts in safety technology, SICK follows the approach of comprehensive safety thinking in material flow plants. From the first planning step, through the risk assessment, the engineering, the project planning, commissioning, maintenance and modernization, all safety-relevant aspects of a logistics solution are considered in close collaboration with producers and often the subsequent users. The aim is to develop a consistent sensor, control and service solution for every task from a single source. Consulting and engineering services from SICK form links between logistics concepts, application practice and the relevant legal situation – as does a SICK Logistics Center ‘Plant Walk-through’ at the user’s premises – the inspection of a logistics plant or a picking and distribution centre with a safety specialist, to work out concrete suggestions for improving the current level of machine safety. Another advantage for the producers and users of handling and warehouse systems: SICK has been accredited as an Inspection Center according to IEC and EN ISO 17020 by DAkkS (Germany’s accreditation authority) and can therefore carry out the safety-oriented acceptance of new, modified or modernized machines and plant, as well as confirm this with its Inspection Seal.