Initially, a partial expansion was planned for the existing warehouse in Willisau. However, due to the high order volume, Competec decided to build a new warehouse, which enormously expanded the capacities for storage and shipping of medium and large parts. The new warehouse building has a total height of 31 m and was gradually put into operation in 2021. The area to be protected of the automated compact storage system in the new building has a volume of 21,000 m³. The protected areas of the two existing compact bin stores, which are also equipped with WAGNER fire protection solutions, each have a volume of 11,000 m³. A total of 399 robots transport the bins in the 356,589 bin locations in the Competec logistics center to the 53 work stations.
The logistics service provider Competec Logistik AG is part of the Competec Group. This also includes the trading companies Alltron AG, Jamei AG, Schoch Vögtli AG and MEDiDOR AG. BRACK.CH AG is also part of this group and is one of the largest independent national retailers for consumer goods of all kinds, delivering more than 200,000 items directly from stock to Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
State-of-the-art fire protection
The automated compact storage system of the extension building - like the existing Competec buildings - is reliably protected by OxyReduct® active fire prevention in combination with TITANUS® aspirating smoke detectors for early fire detection.
The OxyReduct® oxygen reduction system introduces nitrogen into the high-bay warehouse in a controlled manner, thus reducing the oxygen content in the protected area to a previously defined level.
Since the risk of smoldering fires and cable fires on electrical lines such as the robots or their charging stations cannot be completely ruled out even in an oxygen-reduced atmosphere, TITANUS® aspirating smoke detectors are used for early fire detection. These smoke detectors detect the finest smoke particles at a very early stage.
Roland Brack, founder and owner Competec
"A building like this is not erected every day in Switzerland. All the companies involved are enormously challenged," says Roland Brack, founder and owner of Competec. Technically, the highly complex extension building is state of the art, explains the Competec founder. For example, the company is breaking new ground in fire protection by making the two high-bay warehouses inert: by reducing the oxygen content in the air, a fire is actively prevented.
