Digital transformation is changing intralogistics processes and represents a major challenge for the supply chain. How to meet these new challenges to gain in efficiency? Automate, yes, but how?

As a stand-alone solution, combined or integrated into an automated application with inventory management software, the storage tower is the ideal solution to meet the challenges of logistics.

Discover the challenges and opportunities to seize for your warehouse thanks to the storage tower: a semi-automated system to optimize your storage and order picking processes.

What is Tower Storage?

An efficient product storage solution:

Storage towers are also known by other names in the field of intralogistics. Terms such as “vertical lift”, “vertical carousel”, “automated storage warehouse” or “vertical automated system” are often used.

In Smart Tower Storage System, all types of item formats are stored on trays. They work on the principle of “Good to man”, for optimal use through better ergonomics and simplified stock management thanks to intuitive software.

The storage towers manage the storage of the trays according to two criteria:

  • Compactness or dynamic management of tray heights, for better optimization of storage volumes
  • The velocity or frequency of picking: the most requested trays are automatically positioned near the sampling opening.

This makes it possible to work in hidden time. While the tower storage automatically selects a new tray, the order picker has time to perform other tasks, such as packing or labeling the picked goods or preparing an order from another tower storage. This significantly increases productivity.

Advantages of Smart Tower Storage

One of the other advantages of tower storage over rotary storer is the absence of imbalance. On a rotary storer, when you call a reference of a few grams, you rotate all the references that can be several tons; therefore, this imbalance must always be monitored. It looks like a Ferris wheel where the cabins must always be in balance. This is why several empty cabins usually pass before one can climb.

With the storage tower, such imbalances are excluded. It is, therefore, faster and easier to supply, the items can also be taken without compensatory intervention.

Space is one of the most important factors in any warehouse. As the storage towers are built in height and not in width, they make it possible to clearly densify the storage capacity over a few square meters and at the same time facilitate sampling. If necessary, storage towers can be installed outdoors in a separate space, which makes it possible to completely move the storage area outside the warehouse. This saves you more storage space.

To store a similar number of items on shelves, much more storage capacity would be required, not to mention the associated ergonomic disadvantages.

  • Inventory and Process Security

Conventional warehouses, with shelving, often suffer from problems related to the organization and storage system of items. Shelf storage is associated with many sources of error.

The same applies to the collection of articles. Errors in stored products are often only discovered during inventory. They can also appear when an employee wants to pick up an item and can’t find it in the specified location. This often leads to long and tedious research.

The items present in the storage tower are not visible, it is a real black box. The user works with software. Each sample is recorded at the storage tower and can be imported directly into the inventory management system. The list of samples is directly visible on the screen of the storage tower and can be managed and validated immediately. For better warehouse management, stocks are always organized and secured. . There is no longer a need for paper

  • Improved Ergonomics

Shelf shelving facilities have levels that are not easily accessible, either very close to the ground or too high. Some of the material is also stored on pallet racks, which often require the use of a forklift.

With the tower storage, the goods are presented at an ergonomic and comfortable height of about 860 mm. There is also a tray tilting device, which allows items stored at the bottom of the tray to be taken easily without any contortions. The order picker can access the references from above, without the need to pull the bins, as in the case of conventional rotary storage.

The tower storage will allow you to optimize your space while benefiting from a dynamic and automated storage system.

Thanks to their compact design, they adapt to almost any space and operate according to the “Product to Man” principle. Compared to conventional static storage systems, a storage tower requires only a fraction of the floor space.

How to determine the optimization potential and obtain logistics solutions adapted to your warehouse? Do not hesitate to call on KenWei. We will put at your disposal our logistics expertise and our scalable and global solutions to help you from A to Z to optimize your warehouse.