Airbus to expand robotic usage at Rochefort logistics site

Airbus, the world’s largest airplane manufacturer, is expanding its usage of robotic solutions at its Rochefort, France logistics facility.

Airbus expects to be manufacturing a staggering 1,000 aircraft a year by 2025, which would significantly increase its requirements for parts picking in its warehouses.

Airbus’ partners at the Rochefort warehouse are Blondel Group and Scallog. Specifically, logistics company Blondel manages the warehouse and has installed Scallog robotic systems to accelerate operations.

Blondel Group plans to deploy the Scallog solution on the Rochefort site, which will include two preparation stations, six “Boby” robots and 160 shelves, in order to “gain in speed and competitiveness” in its picking of parts, while limiting the arduousness, in particular the work in staggered hours.

Christian Debucquet, director of the Blondel Group’s Grand Ouest region industry business unit, says: “We must support our partner Airbus in its growth dynamic and in its new production challenges, by working ever more efficiently in just-in-time preparations.

“A wide variety of parts are needed for production stations. The Scallog solution should contribute to this by putting robotic technology at the service of the efficiency of our services and the development of our employees, while meeting the traceability and transparency requirements of our industrial client.”

On the Rochefort site, the Blondel Group, with the Scallog solution, plans to multiply its productivity by three, optimize its storage area by 30 percent and drastically reduce picking errors, in particular with pick To light.

Debucquet says: “The deployment of the Scallog solution at the Rochefort site is proving to be an automation test site within our group. It should be duplicated from the end of 2022 as a ‘promising project’ on other sites of our Industry & Logistics Business Unit, which represents more than 25 percent of our turnover.

“Tomorrow, robotics according to Scallog should have a preponderant place in our group to deal with ever-increasing picking volumes, all sectors of activity combined.”