Small lightweight parts are ideal for carousels. A system may contain as many as 10,000 different items that can be stored in a pod of carousels. A rule of thumb would be that the product master pack is less than 2' by 2' by 2'. Above this point other storage modes may be better.  The goal is to optimize the time replenishing against the time picking.

 

The best storage height is from knees to nose. This is called the golden zone. The fastest moving items should be stored in this range with slower moving items above and the heaviest items on the bottom shelf. Families of product can be stored together on carousels.

 

Carousels are great for storing tools and consumable items from the manufacturing floor. They can be installed in a caged area or have access limited by lock and key and user restrictions from the carousel PC. Tools and Dies can be issued and tracked. Hand tools are picked and issued by the tool room clerk.

 

Carousels can be used to store raw materials for the shop floor. For example, dental equipment manufacturers, medical equipment manufacturers, electronics manufacturers, and the semi-conductor equipment industry find carousels effective storage tools.

 

Carousels are generally 8 to 10 feet tall. There are a few 12 foot carousels for maximum storage but usually carousels are stacked one on top of the other with each pod having its own workstation. If the carousels are above 8 feet, a lift table is recommended.

 

Carousels should be installed in pods of 2 to 4 carousels. This allows the picking to be optimized by minimizing the dwell time (time waiting for carousels to index to the next position). The goal is to have the next pick already pre-positioned.

 

Carousels can be thought of as shelves on wheels. One of the greatest benefits of a carousel workstation is the items stored in the pod are brought to the operator. If the picking process requires scanning with a laser scanner for verification or accuracy, weigh counting, bagging and tagging,  or computer interface, then all of the items are within easy reach of the pick face without the operator moving to the product. The "shelves" come to the operator where all of the tasks can be completed.

 

AS/R Systems designs software for each application using the Magic™ Enterprises Software Development Toolkit. Magic™ is the world's fastest Rapid Application Development toolkit. This way the software is built for your requirements.

 

Horizontal carousels range in bin width from 18" wide to 30" wide. The most popular bin size ranges from 21" to 30" wide.

The sides are generally 16" (for 18" deep shelves) or 20" (for 22" deep shelves).

 

YH 18" wide
HP 21" wide
WH 24.5" wide
VH 30" wide

 

 

If you have any other questions on carousels or any other of our products and services, please call us or fill out the information request, and we'll contact you.