Kannegiesser: The global market leader from Vlotho

What began as a small company in wooden barracks in 1948 in Vlotho, has now become a global partner for the future of the laundry industry. The mission of the family-led company Herbert Kannegiesser GmbH is to develop innovative solutions for automation, robotisation, ergonomics, productivity and sustainability.
Trendsetting technologies developed by the East Westphalian manufacturer guarantee the highest level of quality, hygiene, availability and productivity for textile service providers. Machines and systems from laundry technology, flat linen, mouldings, logistics, process technology and data information systems are among its product areas. Today, the family enterprise has 2000 employees in all regions across the world. Development and production with a high level of vertical integration take place at eight locations – six in Germany and one each in the United Kingdom and the USA.
With the product division SmartLaundry, Kannegiesser enables automated control and monitoring of the entire manufacturing process. Its well-connected service network ensures high availability of machines. With over 140 service engineers in the DACH region, global partners and digital solutions, the company ensures maximum availability of machines – always and everywhere.

Optimising procurement processes

For Kannegiesser, even the smallest component is of greatest importance. Screws, nuts and washers may seem insignificant at first glance, but they are of tremendous value: Fasteners have proven to be an important factor in day-to-day operations for ensuring safe and trouble-free manufacturing. Be it traditional fasteners used for securely installing drum walls, heat-resistant protective equipment required for maintenance, or special parts that are tailor-made for specific design solutions – all these parts have one thing in common: They perform essential fastening functions and are therefore indispensable for the stability and safety of the machines.  Therefore, every component is critical. Particularly in purchase, C-Parts with irregular demand, low unit values and a wide variety of components have a major impact on procurement, which makes their sourcing extremely time-consuming, prone to errors and inefficient. This is precisely why the intelligent supply solutions for automated production supply from Würth Industrie Service have been deployed at Kannegiesser for the past 25 years.  They guarantee reliable C-Part supply for all seven plants – from the headquarters in Vlotho to Sarstedt, Kalletal, Hoya, Aue-Bad Schlema and Augsburg, through to Banbury in the UK.

Boost for production supply

Procurement requires solutions that operate efficiently and proactively, thereby securing a decisive competitive edge for the customers. With production supply that uses RFID Kanban, this vision becomes reality. The battery-powered iPLACER^® offers an easy way to reorder C-Parts. The compact module features an integrated reader and transmitter unit and can be installed anywhere – from the production floor to individual workstations and even logistics. At the workstation, the device independently triggers an order whenever required. If it is attached to any standard flow rack, users can also record goods receipts and issues, postings, bookings and triggered orders without any manual effort. The iPLACER^® is also in use at Kannegiesser – and with great success, as Jörg Stichnoth, Head of Production Planning / Disposition at the Kannegiesser plant in Sarstedt, reports: “Our machine requirements are managed in a lean manner. Reordering takes place fully automatically, which saves a great deal of time and significantly reduces the effort needed for coordination and ordering.” Speaking of automated, demand-driven supply: iSHELF^® – the intelligent shelves are also impressive in this regard. If a bin is empty, then the integrated shelves directly detect it via an integrated sender-receiver-unit in the shelf. The shelf reads the RFID chip and transfers the information of the empty bin directly to the Kanban Management System (KMS) developed by Würth Industrie Service in-house. The supply takes place centrally from the European logistics centre in Bad Mergentheim to Kannegiesser. Other RFID-based system solutions are also used. For example, the intelligent pallet box iBOX^®, which enables immediate data transmission via RFID as soon as an empty bin is placed inside. The rest is handled completely autonomously by the system. The demand is transmitted to Würth Industrie Service transparently and securely, and the replenishment of the required items is initiated. In addition, the iPUSH^® is used for easily transmitting the demand at the push of a button. An order can be triggered automatically by pushing the button integrated into the RFID module. Around 80 of these modules are in use at Kannegiesser, which ensure consistently smart and lean processes. Not to forget the digital shelf label iDISPLAY, which operates completely autonomously at the storage location and is directly connected to the ERP system of the C-Parts expert at Kannegiesser. It transmits important data in real time – from item number, item text and filling quantity to storage location and bin type up to inventory, availability, filling status and upcoming refill dates.

“Thanks to RFID Kanban, we benefit from a secure supply, wherein all the required parts are available at the right time, at the right place, in the right quantity. The RFID solutions by Würth Industrie Service have proven to be a real game changer and are ideal for safe and efficient production,” said Stichnoth. In Vlotho, the supply of direct production materials is handled with the help of a 15-metre-high shuttle system that is stocked with selected items by a system supervisor of Würth Industrie Service – a special but equally reliable form of supply that is ensured by the experts of Würth Industrie Service.

Boost for material supply

With the intelligent ORSY®mat vending machines, Würth Industrie Service takes care of everything from delivery, storage and stocking through to fully automatic replenishment of auxiliary and operating materials. Indirect materials can be provided as required – around the clock, completely transparent, directly at the place of use. For individual withdrawal of occupational safety items, the specialist in laundry technology uses latest vending machine system ORSY®mat WGT (WGT stands for weight). The vending machine detects item withdrawals with the help of the integrated weighing cells in which the weight of the stored items is saved.  In this way, items can be removed individually or in any desired quantity, regardless of the packaging unit. After the item is withdrawn, the vending machine closes and takes stock of the complete inventory inside automatically. The demand is also reported to Würth Industrie Service without any manual effort.  All 10 models mainly provide auxiliary and operating materials such as gloves, glasses, ear plugs or even tools.  The intelligent ORSY®mat system takes care of digital and fully automated reordering of the withdrawn items through complete inventory overview and also provides an overview of consumption and costs. Moreover, the storage is secured, and loss is reduced to a minimum through secured access authorisation. “Our employees can take their protective equipment and other consumable materials directly on site using their RFID employee card – independent of a central material issue point. Thanks to the 24-hour availability, they have access to all the required auxiliary and operating materials at any given time,” says Stichnoth. With a view to a sustainable way of doing business, Kannegiesser uses the resource-saving REFILLO®mat 2.0 system at three locations – in Vlotho, Sarstedt and Hoya. The patented refilling solution ensures continuous availability of operating materials – fully automated! The vending machine fills Würth operating materials from large containers into handy refill cans and contributes to resource conservation by allowing cans to be used repeatedly.

An occasion to celebrate: 25 years of Kanban at the Sarstedt location

In 2025, Kannegiesser and Würth Industrie Service celebrated 25 years of Kanban in Bad Mergentheim. This occasion provided an opportunity to look back on the past cooperation as well as to discuss future projects. Jörg Ruppelt, Senior Account Manager at Würth Industrie Service, who has been supporting Kannegiesser for the last thirteen years, said: “25 years ago, the first Kanban bins were delivered to Sarstedt – from our then site of the Industry division of our parent company in Gaisbach. Since then, around 106,000 bins have been in circulation, with around 1,000 refills carried out.” As one of the longest-standing customers of WIS, the company is regarded as a trustworthy partner on equal footing. “We therefore consider it an integral part of our philosophy to duly honour the loyalty of our customers,” said Ruppelt.