Distributor maximizes space by getting piles off the floor and organized onto racks
Above: AA Metals’ Narrow Aisle Racking System stands over 27 feet tall and is serviced by two Hubtex electric, four-directional sideloaders.
Distributor maximizes space by getting piles off the floor and organized onto racks
November 2018 - Space is at a premium in metal distribution facilities and, according to Doug Nass, system design specialist at DSH Storage Systems LLC, Fredericksburg, Virginia, if companies are experiencing equipment and product damage related to picking orders, that’s a red flag in terms of safety and efficiency. When products are stored in an organized configuration, pick efficiency and floor space are maximized, and the warehouse environment is cleaner and safer.
Before upgrading to the Narrow Aisle Rack System, AA Metals in Orlando, a master distributor of aluminum and stainless products, was storing its sheet and extrusions in piles on the warehouse floor. To fill orders, operators “picked through” towering stacks using conventional forklifts, “which meant excessive digging and moving material,” says Paul Sartore, DSH vice president and regional sales manager. “On average, five or six skids were moved to make one pick.”
Twice as nice
To address these material handling issues, Design Storage & Handling put together an adjustable cantilever racking system for AA Metals that stands over 27 feet tall and uses two Hubtex electric, 12,000-pound-capacity, four-directional sideloaders to pick material. “Sideloaders maximize floor space and pick efficiency while providing the safest means for handling long, heavy loads,” says Nass. “The conventional forklifts AA Metals used required a 16-foot-wide aisle when floor stacking the material. The sideloaders shrink that by more than half.” AA Metals’ storage area now features 7-foot-wide aisles.
Sheet products can only be safely stacked six or seven high on the warehouse floor, compared with a racking system.
In addition, Nass notes, when material is on the floor, there’s a limit to how high it can be stacked. “You can only safely stack sheet products six or seven high (and less for long products), where in a rack system, you can more than double that vertical capacity by utilizing the clear height in the building.”
AA Metals’ new narrow-aisle selective cantilever racking system has several distinct product storage areas. About half the area was specifically designed for storage of skids containing standard aluminum and stainless sheet. The other half accommodates aluminum extrusions ranging from 12 feet to 40 feet long. The entire system has a storage capacity of 1,340 sheet skids plus 1,550 bundles of aluminum extrusions, and it’s organized in just under 25,000 square feet of warehouse space.
Jack Cheng, AA Metals’ founder, president and CEO, says the company’s first goal was to have “more capacity in our warehouse in Orlando. A racking system allowed us to have less movement of material and prevent damages. Before, our sheet product and extrusions were piled up, and because our sales are per lot number, products needed to be moved more than once to access the specific lot our customer wanted.”
In addition, according to Nass, when material is organized in racks, “you are handling it a lot less, so there’s less chance for an operator to get hurt.”
Stay organized
The cantilever racking system can be tied to a company’s ERP system via warehouse management software. Nass says the bar codes can be placed on all incoming material and when the code is scanned, the inventory management system indicates a storage location.
“The skid is taken to that location until it’s picked, and when a customer has a need for a specific item, warehouse personnel can see its location in real time. When there’s no tracking, it’s more time consuming to locate material. The warehouse manager may know its location, but if he’s sick or not around, it can be difficult to find,” Nass says. Cheng adds that bar coding also has given AA Metals “the advantage of inventory accuracy.”
Regardless of the material being handled, Design Storage has the tools to develop a system to make smart use of limited space. “We examine inventory, product flow, building dimensions and ask lots of questions,” Nass says. “In addition, pictures, site visits and 3D models are extremely helpful in giving companies a better understanding of where the material is going and how it will impact their operations moving forward.”
“Great communication is always a key to success, and after every meeting, I received the design with the changes discussed, allowing us to make sure the project was on the right path,” comments Cheng.
Companies typically begin their organization projects “for the space-savings benefit,” Nass says, “but the big bonus with a rack system is all the material is separated by arms, much like shelving, so you’re only one move from your pick. In a floor stack scenario, you might have to move the whole stack. When you put it into the racks, you have a rack arm underneath the load, so if you want the one that’s on level six, you just go grab that one.”
Cheng points out that for AA Metals, the key features of the system are “inventory accuracy, as we can identify the exact location of a specific product; efficiency, as less time is spent when picking material for orders; and decreased damages, as material is touched fewer times than before—at inbound, put away, picking and outbound [stages].”
“The big gains with a narrow-aisle rack system are pick efficiencies—being able to access material and making one move to pull an order,” Nass says. “That’s huge.” MM
