Features/Benefits Provided: Vertical Carousels and VLM's Saved 30% to 50% Floor Space. Inventory is Managed with Real Time Reporting.

Steady growth in the network systems and components business swelled one company's inventory of manufacturing components and testing equipment from 850 SKUs to 6,500 SKUs. This growth threatened to push existing storage space to its limit - jeopardizing productivity and plant safety - leaving the company searching for a cost-effective way to increase storage capacity. By implementing an automated storage and retrieval solution they found more space, reduced risk of injury to workers and improved inventory management.

The challenge the company faced was finding a system that could accommodate both small production parts and larger test fixtures while tracking inventory and increasing employee safety. By implementing two 16-foot vertical carousels, the company was able to reduce the space required to store small production parts by 33%. A shuttle vertical lift module (VLM) was installed to store highly sensitive, larger items such as test fixtures. Each test fixture weighs up to 150 pounds, requires about the same storage area as an overhead storage compartment of an airplane, and can cost up to $20,000. If one breaks, testing of that line may be interrupted until the item is repaired. All test fixtures are now delivered to and retrieved from the shelf by the VLM increasing worker safety and product security.

By making it easy for people to put things away, the company has also met their intended accident prevention objectives. Automated storage and retrieval systems reduce material handling injuries by delivering items to the ergonomically positioned "golden zone." This eliminates need for workers to have to bend down to pick up heavy equipment or part bins, reducing risk of back and knee injuries. All items in the vertical carousel are stored by part number, which in addition to simplifying access and retrieval of parts, provides an almost real-time count of inventory. Test fixtures in the shuttle VLMs are also easily accounted for, with up to the minute inventory and usage reports ready for printing.

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