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AMAZON – BUILT ON KRAMPEHAREX®

06.05.2020  //  Industrial floors

FIRM FOUNDATION FOR A HUGE FULFILMENT CENTRE

A fulfilment centre for millions of products needs a firm foundation: Amazon’s second biggest warehouse in Germany, built in 2008 in Bad Hersfeld, stands on a 100,000 m² floor slab made from 22,000 m³ of steel fibre reinforced concrete. Amazon chose KrampeHarex® fibres for this purpose, both here and at its Rheinberg warehouse which was erected 3 years later. For good reason, too. Bad Hersfeld, with its medieval centre, is also well-known as a spa town. Yet while visitors are relaxing at the thermal baths or wandering through the old town with its attractive cafes and boutiques, there’s hustle and bustle elsewhere: at “FRA3”, Amazon’s second biggest fulfilment centre in Germany, millions of products are stored, packed and shipped minute by minute on 110,000 m² of floor space – an area larger than 17 football pitches.
Key data
Floor slab
>17 Soccer Pitches
1
Base plate
110.000 qm
Surface area
22,000 cbm
Steel fibre reinforced concrete
Fibre reinforced concrete for durable,
dimensionally stable flooring
The firm foundation for this huge fulfilment centre is a 100,000 m² floor slab made from 22,000 m³ of steel fibre reinforced concrete, for which KrampeHarex® supplied the necessary fibres in 2008. Amazon, the logistics giant, had good reason to trust in our company’s experience and quality: in a high-bay warehouse, even the slightest unevenness in the floor can cause the shelves to tilt and lose their stability. Fibre reinforced concrete ensures exceptionally durable, dimensionally stable flooring that withstands even heavy point loads. Our fibre solutions are in use worldwide as the state of the art for building high-bay warehouses, with a smooth process and reliable results guaranteed. Rapid construction progress was another important criterion because Amazon is a fast-growing company. The “FRA3” fulfilment centre needed to be up and running only a year after the fibres were delivered.

HOW STEEL FIBRE REINFORCED CONCRETE KEEPS LOGISTICS MOVING ON THE RHINE


The floor slab is concreted on sand


Performance class testing on the elastic beam

KNOW WHY
HIGH-BAY
WAREHOUSES
NEED SPECIALISED
EXPERTISE

Three years later, Amazon built its next warehouse in Germany, this time in Rheinberg on the banks of the Lower Rhine not far from the Dutch border. Once again, 22,000 m³ of steel fibre reinforced concrete were used, manufactured according to the “Steel Fibre Reinforced Concrete” guideline of the German Committee for Reinforced Concrete (DAfStb). Bremer AG, which constructed the warehouse on behalf of Amazon, trusted in the expertise of our partner Schulz-Concrete Engineering: since the floor slab had to perform a load-bearing function owing to the high loads from the pick towers, the stability of the concrete had to be determined with absolute precision. Schulz-Concrete Engineering calculated that a performance class of 1.2/0.9 would be required. Approximately 80% of the floor slab was realised with C25/30 concrete in this performance class. KrampeHarex® DE 50/1.0 N fibres were used here. The concrete sections were executed without any joints. The foundation was completed after a building time of only three months between June and August 2011. And not long after, Amazon were able to take up occupancy of their latest warehouse on the Lower Rhine – like its counterpart in Bad Hersfeld the size of 17 football pitches – and keep logistics moving in the densely populated state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Concrete: C25/30

Performance class: 1.2/0.9

Fibre type: DE 50/1.0 N

Building time: 3 months
Author // Frank Schuhmacher

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