Planning, delivery and operation

Projects and experience

Selected planning work through Tidira and my earlier roles in equipment projects, ERP implementation and warehouse operations.

Fabian Ecker

Current Tidira projects

Precision manufacturing

Logistics for a multi-storey factory

Concept development and tender preparation

For a new factory in Switzerland, I am planning intralogistics from goods receipt and storage through production supply and return flows.

Pallets, small parts and long goods need different handling arrangements across several floors. The operating concept must meet production demand and fit the building, including its shared routes and handovers.

I develop layouts, capacity and material-flow models, and functional requirements for suppliers. With the project team, I coordinate lift handovers, buffers, maintenance access and building openings.

Exploded planning model showing storage and production across several floors. — Storage, production floors and vertical transport in the coordination model.Tidira 3D planning model. Proposed arrangement.

Picking workstations connected by tote conveyors. — Picking workstations and tote return conveyors.AI-assisted concept illustration based on Tidira’s 3D model.

An overhead conveyor and lift serving a production area. — Lift handover and overhead transport for production supply.AI-assisted concept illustration based on Tidira’s 3D model.

Concept illustration of factory goods receipt and conveyor handovers. — Goods receipt and the connection to internal transport.AI-assisted concept illustration based on Tidira’s 3D model.

01Storage and transport: Define how automated small-parts storage, pallet and long-goods handling serve production and receive returning material.
02System responsibilities: Clarify the duties of warehouse software and equipment controls, including the information needed at each handover.
03Capacity basis: Establish storage needs and examine which movements use the lifts, buffers and transport routes at the same time.

Pharmaceutical manufacturing

Production logistics for a new pharmaceutical building

Concept development and building coordination

In the planning of a new pharmaceutical production building, I represent Materials Management and coordinate logistics requirements with the other planning disciplines.

Storage, sampling, dispensing, production supply and waste need defined routes and space. Temperature conditions, container identity and material status also determine when and how a movement can take place.

I have prepared a logistics concept, material-flow and room-adjacency diagrams, and an equipment list. These are working documents for coordination with architecture, process engineering and IT.

Production handovers: Specify how container identity, material status and remaining quantities are recorded at dispensing. Coordinate return routes and the manual handling of materials unsuitable for automation with Materials Management, process engineering and quality.
Process and system coordination: Coordinate routes and material-status handling with Materials Management, process engineering and quality, including ERP and equipment-control interfaces.

Industrial manufacturing

Tender for palletising and mobile transport

Tender preparation

Within an engineering partner’s project team, I am preparing the tender for palletising and mobile transport.

Palletising, mobile transport and existing production systems have to operate as one process. Supplier offers need to cover the same operating conditions and clearly define the work each party will deliver.

I specify supply packages, performance requirements, physical and software interfaces, and how suppliers must explain their prices and deviations. The tender draft provides a common basis for the later comparison of offers.

Concept illustration of robotic palletising, conveyors and a manual finishing station. — Palletising, material supply and manual finishing in one arrangement.AI-assisted concept illustration based on Tidira’s 3D model.

Manual finishing station beside robotic palletising and pallet conveyors. — Working space, material supply and access at the finishing station.AI-assisted concept illustration based on Tidira’s 3D model.

Top-down layout of a manual finishing station, pallet positions and conveyors. — The finishing station and material positions in plan view.Tidira 2D layout study. Proposed arrangement.

01Operation and faults: Describe pallet handling, transport and buffers during normal operation, interruptions and recovery.
02Integration and start-up: Set requirements for combined tests, delivery responsibilities and ramp-up, alongside the existing production equipment and systems.

Distribution logistics

Operating concept for an existing distribution warehouse

Concept development

The target process I am developing for an existing warehouse runs from goods receipt through picking and packing to dispatch.

At goods receipt, incoming loads, goods awaiting clarification and received stock need distinguishable waiting areas and next steps. The concept must organise these handovers within the existing warehouse.

I combine site observations and operating records in process recommendations, workplace concepts and 3D layouts. The ongoing work includes reviewing the required software functions and automation options with the operator and system provider.

3D planning model of parcel-packing workstations, conveyors and packaging supplies. — Packing workstations, packaging supplies and the dispatch handover.Tidira 3D planning model. Proposed arrangement.

Concept illustration of a packing workplace with a compact vacuum lifting aid. — A lifting-aid concept for the packing workplace.AI-assisted concept illustration based on Tidira’s 3D model.

Top-down layout of packing workstations, pallet positions and handovers. — Workplaces, pallet positions and handovers in plan view.Tidira 2D layout study. Proposed arrangement.

01Process and handovers: Define where goods wait, who moves them and how the next step receives and confirms the work.
02Existing systems: Check the required functions with the current software before recommending additional systems or automation.

Food production and ERP

Business Central for a food-production business

Implementation in progress · Configuration and process tests

For a Swiss food business, I am implementing Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, connecting purchasing, recipes, production, packing and sales.

Ingredient quantities, intermediate products, packaging units, batch identity and labour and machine costs must describe the same operation. The system also needs to show material consumption, stock value and the cost of finished products.

I designed the processes and master data, set up the test environment and tested defined end-to-end flows from purchasing through production and packing to sales and returns. Configuration and further checks are ongoing. Joint user testing and preparation for live operation follow with the business and its software and accounting partners.

Recipes and costs: Connect ingredients, intermediate products, packaging, units, labour and machine time in bills of materials and cost calculations.
Batches and stock: Test material consumption, batch tracing, expiry controls, stock transfers and the link between inventory movements and costs.

Fabian Ecker · Project roles

Further project experience

My earlier roles span equipment delivery at KNAPP, planning and operation at Knorr-Bremse, ERP implementation at Roam Electric, and logistics planning and project management at SOLTIC.

Life-science distribution

AutoStore implementation and warehouse redesign

Completed implementation · SOLTIC

Through SOLTIC, I led the client-side implementation of an AutoStore system and the redesign of the warehouse and its processes. The scope included conveyors, packing stations and manual storage areas.

The new equipment had to work with the existing operation. SAP EWM, warehouse controls, PLCs and the site’s IT infrastructure needed agreed functions and interfaces.

I led the work from concept and planning through tendering, supplier coordination and implementation. SAP EWM, controls, networks and equipment were integrated and tested through commissioning and ramp-up.

Physical and software interfaces: Coordinate equipment handovers, packing processes, SAP EWM, controls, servers and networks.
Testing and ramp-up: Test the combined flows and resolve integration issues with the suppliers and site team during start-up.

Pharmaceutical logistics

Concept and cost planning for a pharmaceutical storage building

Concept and cost planning · SOLTIC

As logistics lead within SOLTIC's planning team, I worked on the concept-stage equipment and cost basis for a pharmaceutical storage building in Switzerland.

The scope combined storage at different temperatures, pallet transport between floors and manual handling alongside automation. A useful budget needed to distinguish the logistics equipment from work assigned elsewhere.

The cost model separated storage equipment, racking, conveyors, lifts, workstations, IT hardware and warehouse software. It recorded the included scope, assumptions and exclusions for coordination with the wider planning team.

Equipment scope: Separate standard equipment from items budgeted with explosion protection. Include manual storage and handling equipment.
Costs outside the estimate: Identify excluded building work, reusable carriers and additional automation so these can be considered separately.

Client-side planning and operation · Mödling, Austria

Warehouse automation at Knorr-Bremse

At Knorr-Bremse, I led the planning and implementation of an automated warehouse. I assessed feasibility, prepared the basis for investment approval and managed tendering and supplier selection. After commissioning, I took responsibility for warehouse operation.

The project connected storage equipment with SAP and warehouse and material-flow controls. Alongside the technical work, I was responsible for costs, risks and delivery milestones. My subsequent operating role included maintenance planning and expansion concepts.

An automated warehouse workstation at Knorr-Bremse with tote conveyors. — Knorr-Bremse, Mödling, Austria. Workstation in the automated warehouse.

Warehouse setup and ERP introduction · Nairobi, Kenya

Warehouse operations and Business Central at Roam Electric

At Roam Electric in Nairobi, I built the warehouse operation for a growing electric-mobility manufacturer. The assignment covered the physical warehouse and IT setup as well as the processes and people needed to run it.

I implemented Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central across purchasing, inventory and production, including master data, replenishment, production and assembly orders, material consumption, times and costs. I developed paperless warehouse routines and trained and led the team while managing the operation directly.

Motorcycle assembly and warehouse storage at Roam Park in Nairobi. — Roam Park, Nairobi. Warehouse setup and operating responsibility at Roam Electric.

KNAPP: Falabella in Santiago de Chile

As a project manager at KNAPP, I worked on Falabella’s automated omnichannel distribution centre in San Bernardo, Santiago de Chile.

My work at KNAPP included commercial and technical project management, functional specifications, engineering coordination, software tests and commissioning. I coordinated mechanical, controls and IT teams and was responsible for budgets, schedules and client reporting.

Falabella: the centre and its later expansion (Spanish)Fabian Ecker