Logistics

When Baur Hermes Fulfillment (BHF) invested €150 million in a new shuttle warehouse at their Altenkunstadt site, network reliability was non-negotiable. With 840,000 storage positions, approximately 1,000 autonomous shuttles, and downtime costs of up to €500,000 per hour, the facility required a high-performance OT network capable of supporting centralized asset management, predictive maintenance, and long-term digitalization goals. Indu-Sol designed and implemented a condition monitoring management system built around PROmesh switches, PROFINET-INspektor® NT units, and PROmanage® NT software to meet those requirements.

The completed network serves as the foundation for BHF's centralized OT asset management strategy, supporting secure IT/OT connectivity and future firmware and device management across the facility.

Project Overview

• Customer: Baur Hermes Fulfillment (BHF), Altenkunstadt, Germany
• Sector: Fulfillment and E-Commerce, Intralogistics
• Project Period: May 2022 through Q2 2024
• Goal: Establish centralized OT asset management and maximize system availability across a newly constructed shuttle warehouse
• Project Value: Approximately €145,000

Challenge
BHF needed to merge existing fieldbus systems into a unified, high-performance OT network capable of supporting centralized device and firmware management, real-time condition monitoring, and proactive maintenance workflows. The scale of the facility and the severity of potential downtime costs required a solution that could convert emerging faults into planned maintenance events before unplanned outages occurred.

Solution

Indu-Sol provided network planning consulting and implemented a complete condition monitoring management system consisting of 200 PROmesh switches forming a gigabit backbone, 60 PROFINET-INspektor® NT units for distributed network monitoring across the facility, and PROmanage® NT software for centralized visibility, historical analysis, and alarm management. The architecture enables proactive identification of network anomalies and supports the centralized OT asset management strategy BHF required for long-term operational competitiveness.

Results

• Comprehensive digitalization-capable OT network with secure IT/OT connectivity
• Centralized OT asset management infrastructure supporting future growth and device management
• Predictive maintenance capability converting potential faults into planned maintenance events
• Effective reduction of unplanned downtime exposure against costs of up to €500,000 per hour
• ROI achieved within the cost of less than one hour of unplanned downtime

Download the Case Study >>
The Baur Hermes Fulfillment case study is a detailed look at how Indu-Sol's condition monitoring management system supports large-scale intralogistics operations.