AS/RS adds massive capacity, uses 78% less floor space

Meyer Corp. is the largest cookware company in the Unites States. The company wanted to consolidate facilities within a 10-mile radius to streamline business and cut costs associated with maintaining multiple buildings. The company realized even more efficiencies after implementing a state-of-the-art automated warehouse.

The supplier manufactured and delivered a 100-foot-tall, rack-supported automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) comprised of 12 unit-load storage retrieval machines capable of handling pallets up to 1,200 pounds. The rack is incorporated into the actual building and serves as its basic structure while seamlessly integrating with the materials handling system. This design allows for maximum storage density, never interferes with the building structure, and has the economical and environmental benefits of creating a lights-out or non-climate-controlled area.

The AS/RS is sheltered from other operations within the facility, but integrates with them through automated transportation systems, conveyors or fork trucks. The high-capacity system processes more than 60 pallets per hour, features locations for more than 66,000 pallets, and occupies 165,000 square feet of floor space. The equivalent number of pallets in a flat traditional warehouse would have taken up 750,000 square feet.

The unit load AS/RS in this facility is a double-deep system, making it one of the supplier’s highest capacity systems installed to date. Once the concrete slab was poured and ready, the automated system was installed in six months, and the entire 40-acre project was complete within 10 months. In fact, the AS/RS rack was installed 66 days ahead of schedule, requiring 160,000 man-hours and resulting in no injuries during installation.

Daifuku
248-553-1000
http://www.daifuku.com

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