LGR Packaging, together with Krifft & Zipsner, has made its intralogistics fit for the future.
Originally, only a software update was planned to enable the system to be used under Windows 11. The result was a fully automated logistics solution with warehouse management, allowing the system to be used for many more years.
In late 2025, Microsoft ended support for its Windows 10 operating system. Fully functional devices that did not meet the significantly higher hardware requirements for the newer Windows 11 were no longer safe to use and had to be decommissioned.
At its Rheine site, LGR Packaging utilises several conveyor lines from Krifft & Zipsner as intermediate storage between the printing plant, which has a capacity of 35 stacks per hour across 76 conveyor lines on two levels, and an intermediate storage area in the die-cutting department with 42 conveyor lines on a single level. Five transfer trolleys also serve as a transport medium between the lines, the two storage areas, and the machine infeed and outfeed. A rotary unit and two stack turners are also installed.
The entire conveyor system supplied by Krifft & Zipsner, including the Siemens control system, has been repeatedly expanded and modified over its 25 years of use. Some modules were no longer compatible with Windows 11 because the applications could no longer be extended and the entire system, including the development environment, was tied to older hardware. Therefore, updating the hardware and software to a new operating system version was not possible.
Since rewiring, new control cabinets, and reprogramming would have far exceeded the planned budget, no new controllers were to be installed. Therefore, for continued use, the software had to be completely rewritten using current tools. The system, including its operational data acquisition, also needed to be integrated into the customer’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.
