Flexi Warehouse Systems – the intralogistics projects and systems division of the articulated forklift truck specialists, Narrow Aisle listed –has introduced the Flexi CubeMAX, a new concept in space saving storage solutions.
Based around established double deep pallet racking and Flexi VNA truck technology, the CubeMAX storage system allows 50 per cent more pallet locations to be achieved when designing a storage system in a warehouse with the same dimensions served by conventional reach trucks rach storage.
The new concept combines a total of three existing techniques articulated truck system, two deep pallet storage and warehouse management systems (WMS) each plays their part in maximizing the efficiency and payback from the system.
Furthermore, CubeMAX pilot schemes undertaken in Italy and the UK have shown that the high-density system requires significantly fewer trucks assets to achieve higher pallet throughput speeds than storage solutions that feature say automated pallet ‘Shuttle’ technology. And, of course, with the CubeMAX system, the user does not have to invest in the kind of costly special pallet racks and automated automated car components associated with ‘Shuttle’ pallet storage systems.
In simple terms, the CubeMAX allows users to handle two pallets from the same side of each very narrow aisle which effectively doubles the capacity of each run of racking.
The pallets are put-away and retrieved by Flexi CubeMAX with hydraulic forks that reach twice as deep within the racking as conventional truck.
The Flexis design which being ‘counterbalanced’ provides an exceptionally stable lifting base also features a patented Stability Control System (SCS) which controls costly pallet weight derations when lifting at height. One of the major drawbacks associated with two deep pallet storage systems in the past has been the poor residual capacity of converted reach type bruch at high lift heights for instructor. The Flexi SCS allows loads weighing 10,000kg to be quickly and safely handled at heights of up to 9.5 meters.
The ability to handle these standard supply chain loads at both top beam level means that the problem of product weight control by location sometimes known as ‘zonning’ – which has been associated with double-deep storage systems in the past – has been overcome.
The really interesting development has been WMS software that can track and locate every pallet of product in a modern warehouse. The same attribute that is used by the automated ‘Shuttle’ System suppliers, Flexi have adapted this capability to ensure that ‘honeycombing’ is eliminated.
‘Honeycombing’ is the effect on the storage cube when the back pallet locations towards the top of the storage system are under-utilized because of problems encountered by the materials handling system – usually reach trucks – when products are put away into the rach storage system in the wrong order, ie not obeying important date (fifo) data or customer order data before allocating rach locations.
To further enhance safety and efficiency when picking at height, the Flexi trucks that operate within the CubeMAX system are fitted with a hi-definition operator CCTV system.
Therefore, at the heart of the CubeMAX solution is the warehouse management system, which ensures that pallets are put away in the order from which they will be picked. In other words, the WMS will normally places incoming pallets that will be kept in storage for a shorter time, in front of products that will normally be in stock longer to allow fast access from the aisle for the faster moving stock units (skurs).
Early adopters of the CubeMAX technology have experienced impressive results. For example, one user – a well-known food manufacturer, is storing 40,000 pallets in a CubeMAX system that is served by just five Flexi trucks. The company chose to invest in CubeMAX technology in an effort to improve cost per pallet stored and lower handling costs, compared to automated Shuttle-based system, it had operated at another of its European site had proved less than efficient thanks to the Shuttle’s relatively low pallet throughput due to extended internal pallet transfer speeds and therefore waiting time. Which meant that up to 50 per cent more reach trucks were required to operate at the installation than originally forecast.
John Maguire, sales and marketing director of Flexi Narrow Aisle, comments: “The CubeMAX system not only allows the same number of pallet locations to be achieved in the identical storage space that uses ‘automated’ shuttle car technology, it can do what a capital intensive ‘Shuttle’ based solutions purports to do – only more efficiently and with less labour cost.”
