Precise Placement, Efficient Consolidation: Würth Industrie Service and SSI SCHAEFER Jointly Advance Picking Robot Technology

• Commissioning of the first SSI Piece Picking cell with Pick & Place functionality as part of a joint development partnership

• Increased throughput in an existing system through automated item consolidation

• Reduced effort for future implementations and adaptations thanks to insights gained from the project

Würth Industrie Service GmbH & Co. KG specializes in automated procurement and logistics solutions for industrial C-parts management and supplies more than 20,000 customers across Europe from its headquarters in Bad Mergentheim, Germany. “Together with intralogistics expert SSI SCHAEFER, we want to further leverage the potential of our existing picking technology,” says Frank Freudenberger, Head of Logistics at Würth Industrie Service. “By automating the consolidation of pre-picked items, we can increase system throughput without the need for extensive technical modifications.”

For this purpose, SSI SCHAEFER integrated its fully automated SSI Piece Picking robotic solution into Würth Industrie Service’s logistics center in Bad Mergentheim in April 2026. The implementation of the piece-picking robot was completed within just a few days. This rapid commissioning was made possible because SSI SCHAEFER had already preassembled and functionally tested the robotic system at its own facility.

Maximum operational reliability in Pick & Place mode 

The new SSI Piece Picking cell in compact gantry design is used to automatically consolidate pre-picked items on trays. The objective is to empty trays more quickly and return them promptly to the pre-picking process. To achieve this, the system identifies items on the source trays in real time, determines optimal gripping points, and controls the robot arm accordingly. The robot then safely picks up the items and places them precisely at the appropriate location on the destination tray.

The commonly used Pick & Drop mode, in which items are dropped into the target container, is not an option for Würth Industrie Service. The company’s C-parts portfolio includes numerous products that are too heavy to be handled safely using drop processes. To ensure reliable handling of packages weighing up to five kilograms, Würth Industrie Service’s Piece Picking cell operates in Pick & Place mode, where items are placed in a targeted and controlled manner.

 

“Gently and precisely placing an item is the supreme discipline for robots,” explains Markus Jammernegg, Head of Modules at SSI SCHAEFER. “We developed the underlying technology several years ago. However, our goal was to make solutions like this adaptable to specific customer requirements both quickly and flexibly. Through our partnership with Würth Industrie Service, we aim to significantly reduce future implementation and adaptation efforts.”

As part of their development partnership, Würth Industrie Service and SSI SCHAEFER will continue optimizing Pick & Place function toward the maximum technically achievable performance. In Pick & Drop mode, performance can reach up to 1,200 picks per hour. However, the precise and gentle Pick & Place process requires additional time for accurate and secure placement of items, making such performance levels impractical.

Image recognition provides detailed 3D position data

SSI Piece Picking utilizes a compact vacuum gripper capable of reaching every corner of a container and reliably handling even the smallest items. The gantry robot picks items from a source location and places the corresponding package onto a destination tray. To calculate all required source and destination positions as well as movement paths in real time, the integrated WAMAS Vision image recognition system is used. Its cameras create position images of the source and destination trays and, based on this data, determine the optimal gripping points, travel trajectories, and destination positions for robot control. Based on order information from the WÜRTH WMS warehouse management system, the integrated robot controller initiates and monitors all Pick & Place operations.

“The interaction between image recognition, material flow control, and WMS ensures that the robotic cell can consolidate pre-picked items safely and efficiently within the shortest possible time,” summarizes Frank Freudenberger. Markus Jammernegg further highlights the solution’s learning capabilities: “SSI Piece Picking enhances image recognition through AI-based learning methods. Using machine learning, the system recognizes product variations without requiring retraining. With a portfolio of more than 100,000 different items, this generates efficiency gains that significantly shorten the solution’s ROI.”

The joint development partnership underscores both companies’ commitment to advancing innovative robotics solutions for the requirements of modern intralogistics. The knowledge gained from the project will contribute to optimizing existing processes and future automation solutions. In doing so, Würth Industrie Service and SSI SCHAEFER are laying the foundation for even more efficient, high-performance, and scalable picking processes.