Rauch was founded in 1897 as a small joinery business in Freudenberg. Today the Rauch Group is divided into several business units. Its headquarters is still located in Freudenberg.

Since 1958 the company produces its chipboards for furniture manufacturing in its company-owned chipboard plant in Markt Bibart, a location just 100 kilometers from the headquarters. By now the German heritage company is one of the largest bedroom furniture manufacturers in Europe, more than one third of the cabinet furniture is exported.

Every year Rauch delivers 8 million pieces of furniture to customers inland and abroad.

Therefore the chipboard plant in Markt Bibart produces more than 500.000 m³ chipboards each year. If furniture is ordered from Rauch, the required chipboards need to be delivered for processing from the plant in Bibart to Freudenberg. For that purpose 10 to 15 trucks need to run between the plants.

For each transport the good had to be booked manually from goods receipt to goods issue. The inbound and outbound postings in both plants had to be done manually in one step, time offset due to transportation times between the plants remained unnoticed.

With the help of the RFID solution implemented by SERKEM the postings concerned of stock transfers are automatic and in real-time.

Automated processes in realtime

At the same time the status of the trucks can be traced in the SAP system. In a stock transfer order of the Rauch Group the goods issue automatically is booked in the transit once the truck leaves the plant and at arrival in the other plant, as goods receipt from the transit.

Each truck is uniquely identified by an RFID chip and assigned to a shipment document in SAP – with delivery notes and goods. All postings are done automatically and in real-time, the status of the delivery notes and the location of the trucks can be viewed in the SAP system. The solution implemented with SERKEM ensures 100% transparency.

Better planning throuch an efficient truck controlling

In addition, the recording of trucks’ departure and arrival times draws conclusion to transportation times and offers new measurement options. Delays are documented, which sets out optimization potential. The efficient truck controlling and timing allows better planning.

Simplified controll processes through RFID chips

The use of RFID chips on pallets, that are readout by a scanner on the fork lift truck, makes it possible to know which pallets are on the truck without having to scan each pallet manually. The chip on the chipboard stacks contains a unique “license plate”.

The relevant information like production order, material number, quantity, size, batch, curing time, etc. is stored in the SAP system and transferred to customers. Therefore the control process during loading is simplified.