Hänel Office and Industrial Storage Systems forms international alliance with prismat

The partnership will enable both highly specialized companies to provide warehouse digitization for customers worldwide that will boost intralogistics performance and efficiency

Hänel Office and Industrial Storage Systems, maker of dynamic lift solutions, and the SAP consulting firm prismat have formed an international alliance to promote digitization in the intralogistics market.

Both companies are known worldwide for their expertise in their respective business sectors. “In the future Hänel customers will be able to profit from tailor-made solutions delivering the highest levels of efficiency.

This will be possible thanks to the combination of SAP templates and Hänel control technology,” says Fin Geldmacher, CEO of prismat.

Soon prismat will have access to the global Hänel network, comprised of customers from all branches of industry, and this will enable the software house to develop individualized SAP solutions for a wide range of intralogistics applications. Hänel is leveraging the vast know-how of prismat specialists to further develop and increase the availability of middle-ware-free connectivity between Hänel lift systems and SAP software.

“Our customers and our business enterprises will profit from this alliance – it’s a win-win situation for everyone. This will help us expand our position and open up new markets,” says Fin Geldmacher.

“Digitization and the perfect integration of our storage systems in existing IT environments is the basis for efficient intralogistics,” according to Joachim Hänel, Managing Director and Chief Executive Sales. “With the template developed in collaboration with prismat, we now have a standardized method for integrating Hänel storage solutions in existing SAP environments.

SAP dialogs are displayed on the web-enabled Hänel controller units so that the lift systems can be operated through SAP. The high-performance MP 12 N and MP 14 N controllers thus become SAP terminals – and data can be booked in SAP in real time.

Lean system landscapes of this kind have several advantages: Customers do not need any additional hardware, employee training is kept to a minimum and there are no third-party license fees.

A number of customer projects have already been realized successfully within the scope of the partnership.

Since the 1950s the name Hänel has stood for innovative solutions in automated storage and materials handling for office and industrial environments. In its role as one of the world’s leading manufacturers of automated carousel and vertical lift storage systems, Hänel has constantly driven the development and integration of its control and software technologies for decades. 

Back in the 1980s it was Hänel that developed its very own high-performance control systems.

And since 2004 customers have been able to integrate Hänel controllers in their enterprise networks via Ethernet. Even then all communication was supported by an integrated web server. Hänel also took the lead by launching touchscreen technology in 2006. The company places great importance not only on technological innovation and ergonomics, but also on energy efficiency. With Hänel EcoDrive®, which is part of the Hänel EcoConcept, the company became the first provider of vertical lift technology to develop a system that captures the energy released during the extractor’s descent, converts it into electrical energy and feeds it back into the power supply network.

Today Rotomat® carousels and Hänel Lean-Lifts® are produced at three manufacturing sites – and exported worldwide. Hänel maintains its own subsidiaries in Switzerland, France, the Netherlands and the USA, in addition to a network of sales partners in more than 60 countries around the world. The Hänel Group employs some 500 people and generates more than EUR 100 million annually. 

prismat GmbH was founded in 1991 as a spin-off from the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics in Dortmund. As a Special Expertise Partner of SAP, the company has continuously accompanied the development of inventory management solutions, from WM (Warehouse Management) and LES (Logistics Execution System) to EWM (Extended Warehouse Management). The software house can proudly look back on 25 years of successful project work in the SAP segment. To date prismat has successfully realized more than 250 SAP projects of relevance to logistics applications for well-known business enterprises.

In addition to its headquarters in Dortmund, Germany, prismat is also represented through branch offices in Ratingen, Stuttgart and Bremen. It has more than 130 employees. In addition to SAP EWM, the company portfolio also covers SAP TM, SAP YL, SAP ERP, S/4HANA®, SAP Fiori®, SAP Enable Now and cloud solutions, not to mention new loT solutions within the scope of the SAP Leonardo offering.