Industrial Trucks

Manufacturing machines and parts DC

This high-volume 3PL depends on a flexible mix of industrial trucks/storage equipment to handle a broad range of products

From small parts received in cartons to large machine components and machines, this busy 3PL handles just about everything but the kitchen sink. Small parts and components received in cartons travel through a detrashing operation, where all packaging is removed and the product is placed into totes bound for a horizontal or vertical carousel. Conversely, items are picked into totes, then travel to a packaging station where they are placed into cartons for shipping. Larger incoming items travel to one of several storage/staging areas, depending on size, weight, and activity level.

A combination of bulk pallet storage, single-deep pallet rack, double-deep pallet rack, and narrow-aisle racks have specific requirements for lift trucks, and the facility uses a combination of pallet jacks, counterbalanced trucks, highcapacity trucks, and narrow-aisle trucks.

• Locating receiving and shipping areas side-byside promotes a U-shaped flow, which streamlines handling and eliminates backtracking

• Combining vertical and horizontal carousels in same layout allows segmentation of inventory by activity level

• Horizontal carousels provide high picking throughput combined with high picking accuracy while vertical carousels deliver high-storage density in a small footprint

• Short picking aisles in the narrow aisle pallet storage boost picking productivity by reducing travel distances

• Double-length pallet jacks facilitate handling of oversize items, but also improve picking productivity in handling smaller items, as an operator only has to visit a single location once to fill two orders

• The storage area for machines and oversize items features 12-ft aisles, facilitating the easy maneuvering of large pallets and double-length pallet jacks

• Narrow-aisle pallet racks and orderpicking trucks maximize use of the cube

• Block stacking of pallets at the shipping dock help to streamline handling of goods that ship in full pallet loads and reduce congestion at the dock

Industrial Trucks

A PROFILE