News
psb completes retrofit at the Universitätsklinikum Göttingen [university hospital]
A special kind of system retrofit is being completed these days: Over a period of six years, the central archive for medical files of the university hospital in Göttingen, Germany, has been retrofitted in several steps.
Now, the hospital is fit for the future, with a highly-efficient archive, providing access to approx. five million of medical files and about 3 million x-rays.
The fully automatic storage, extending over two floors, includes a 7-aisle racking system for 16,625 file boxes, 7 psb runloader AS/RS stacker cranes, 6 order picking workstations plus associated connection to the conveyor system, and the selektron MFR / WMS material flow management and warehouse management system.
With a capacity of about 1.470 beds, the University Hospital of Göttingen fulfills very extensive duties in public health care. Almost 7,000 employees in the medical and medical-technical service, nursing service, administration and the associated utility services, ensure an optimum patient care.
In the year 1992, psb was asked to supply an automated archive system for medical files, for the storage of medical records, x-ray files, film rolls and other archive material. A special challenge in this project was that each patient record is unique; therefore, the hospital operator is legally obliged to provide a requested file to the requesting department within a guaranteed time.
In the first step, the warehouse management computer was exchanged. Together with this modernization, the existing warehouse management software was upgraded with modern up-to-date functions. The main features to be realized were: data transfer, the connection to the hospital information system SAP IS-H, the interfaces to the systems control and the change-over during operation.
The controls of the seven AS/RS stacker cranes were changed progressively, and the related mechanical reconstructions were carried out. Rebuilding of the stacker crane control system included the exchange of the onboard SMP-control with control cabinet, for a state-of-the-art PLC S7 control. Further components, as drives, path measurement system, etc. were also replaced by current, state-of-the-art technology.
All parts, and especially the control components, were disconnected very carefully, so that they could be used in one of the other stacker cranes, which were not »modernized« yet. This provided for a stock of spare parts, which were not available in the market anymore. In 2011, the last two stacker cranes and the central conveyor control system were replaced.
Today, the customer can look back to a very successful retrofit operation of his system installation. The mandatory access to the medical records was available at any time. All works were carried out, always having an eye on the customer’s needs, and within the agreed deadlines.
As a result, this project again showed, that psb’s single supplier philosophy, especially in integrated system installations (with IT, control system and mechanical equipment), offers advantages not only after start of operation for after sales, but also for the retrofit of a system installation.
