Automated storage and retrieval systems can save space, speed production, simplify inventory, and reduce damage in material handling for cabinet shops and panel processors.
In recent years, most of the major machinery manufacturers have been offering storage and retrieval systems for panel processors. These systems allow companies to automate the storage and handling of panel materials, letting robots swiftly do work that used to require a lot more space and human muscle power.
Typical systems allow for stacking, storing, and manipulating panels without damaging sheets. They allow you to save space over traditional warehousing that requires wide aisles for fork lifts and big vertical racks. Casey Harless of Stiles Machinery says these systems save on average 30 percent of the space normally allocated to panel storage.
These systems save time because all the inventory is recorded in computers, and the system automatically knows where every board. If you need a special board for a specific project, the system goes straight to that board and pulls it out, even if the boards are stacked in mixed-up order. Damage, inventory, and waste can all be reduced.
How can storage and retrieval systems change the way you work? Tom Blake, director of client services for Our Country Home, explains how it works at his company.
“Before, we just had a lot of inventory that we stored manually, and we had to retrieve that inventory, and the board we always needed was in the bottom of the stack, and it could take maybe two three hours to get to the wood we needed,” he said. “But what we’ve done is we’ve automated the storage of the material and the inventory of the material. We don’t have as much damage to the material as we did before.”
Harless says the system allows you to free up a lot of capacity to take on more work and maximize the potential of your machinery.
“Obviously big companies look at this, I get that,” says Kevin Beck, president and CEO of Mission Woodworking. “But small companies who want to be big need to look at it, too. We wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing now, if we didn’t have it.”
Source: Stiles Machinery. For information call 616-698-7500 or visit StilesMachinery.com.
