Very Narrow Aisle and High Bay Storage Systems for Distribution
When very narrow aisle and high bay storage systems are needed, AS/RS is often used to store inventory, buffer processes, and sequence products as needed. AS/RS systems can handle a wide variety of product units such as cartons, totes, and pallets. In addition, AS/RS systems provide very accurate inventory control information systems and can accommodate a wide variety of product types including raw materials, work-in-process, and finished goods. Two of the primary drivers for using AS/RS are that they reduce labor and provide consistent sequenced material flow to downstream packing or shipping operations. AS/RS makes excellent use of the vertical cube space available to store more product in a given footprint thus serving as an excellent solution for very narrow aisle and high bay storage system applications. The in-feed and discharge locations can be at multiple levels on the end or sides of the AS/RS. Typical AS/RS applications include:
- Freezer/cooler storage and picking since they are typically tough environments for operators.
- Consolidation buffers since they collect various line items for an order and then release the order all together when all line items are available.
- Burn-in testing for electronic items or cooling/curing buffers.
- High security items which need to be isolated from operators.
- Assembly operations (sequencing).
- Point-of-use buffers allowing Kan Ban generated product requests to quickly be transferred to the assembly area.
- Sortation or sequencing of discharged product.
AS/RS with side mounted carton flow rack that is automatically replenished.
