CAROUSEL SYSTEMS

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STORAGE SYSTEMS

Logistics became a topic for discussion in the Business World in the 1960's and 1970's and rose to prominence in the 1980's. It was truly in the 1990's; however, that Logistics began to garner the appreciation it deserved. In the twenty-first century and beyond, the creation of a sleek, flexible and effective supply and value chains will no less than define the success or failure of organizations and perhaps even entire business types.

A warehouse management system is a critical component of an effective overall Supply Chain management systems solution. Warehouse management is now, or will soon be, a must-have for every logistics operation to remain competitve.

The inbound goods must be stored properly in the warehouse in order to fully utilize the warehouse space. It will help save in the necessary expenses for the warehouse space. There are many types of storage systems in the warehouse such as pallet rack, metal racks, shelves racking, cantilever racks, record storage racks, drive-in racks and rivet racks shelving systems.

The objective of this blog is to further enhance your understanding on one of the storage systems, “Vertical and Horizontal Carousel”. This blog will bring you through the features of the carousels, cost of the carousels and the advantages and disadvantages of the carousels.

Feel free to browse around the blog! :)

Saturday, January 20, 2007

INTRODUCTION TO AUTOMATED CAROUSEL SYSTEM

A carousel is an automated storage and retrieval system, which is widely used in modern warehouses. It consists of a number of shelves or drawers rotating in a closed loop and it is operated by a picker that has a fixed position in front of the carousel.

Carousels come in a huge variety of configurations, sizes and types. They can be horizontal or vertical and rotate in either one or both directions. Carousels are used in many different situations. For example, e-commerce companies use them to store small items and manage small individual orders.

Carousels and conveyors can use parts tracking for pick to light systems. A pick to light system uses lights to indicate which bin is to be picked from and possibly which bin a product should be placed in.

The lights act as a visual signal to increase accuracy, and the scanners and WMS will double-check to assure the pick is carried out correctly. The process seeks to minimize human error, reduce picker effort (especially transit time), and increase warehouse throughput.

A group of carousels should be set up for small, fast-moving items at the front end of the warehouse near receiving. The carousels would be activated based on the pickers’ activity. The pick slip will drop into the system and the carousel with the first part to be picked would automatically begin rotating to the picker.

As the carousel stops, the bin with the product in it would be lit by a red light on the carousel. As the picker proceeds to that carousel, the other carousels (a total of four) would begin spinning to bring the next items to the front.

Then the picker will pick the item, scan it (the system would then verify that the correct item had been picked), and turn to place the item in a set of plastic totes (bins) that would be sitting on a conveyor in front of the carousel. The red light would show next to the tote associated with that order.

The picker will scan the tote and then the item, and the system would verify that the correct item has been placed with the correct order. The tote will then proceed to the next picking station, where products from other storage media (e.g. non-automated shelving) can be added to the order. When the product reaches shipping, it will go through a final scan as it is packed.

That's all Folks!
10:40 AM

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