Swing mast truck works very narrow aisles

Modern Materials Handling - October 2, 2002

'We are probably saving 75 percent in time and motion and now use 66 percent fewer people to do the job,' says Andrew Rosaro, distribution manager, PDI Logistics, Valencia, Calif.

This pharmaceutical distributor and third party logistics service provider achieved these results by reconfiguring its 138,000 square foot warehouse into a very narrow aisle (VNA) pallet rack system, far denser than be-fore. A swing mast truck operates in the VNA storage and can work at the dock as well. 'What prompted our move to very-narrow-aisle,' Rosaro adds, 'was to maximize cube of the available space.'

PDI now ships to over 1,000 locations. It stores some 2,500 of its own stockkeeping units (SKUs) and another 600 SKUs from its logistics customers.

Previously, PDI used conventional sit-down rider, counterbalanced trucks working in standard 12-foot aisles. But when it converted to the VNA layout, it needed trucks to service aisles only 4-1/2 feet wide.

Man-up order pickers work the VNA aisles as does the VNA, wire-guided swing mast truck. This truck services a refrigerated area where blood products are stored, a secure area for DEA controlled drugs, and a segregated aerosol room. The swing mast truck is equipped with an EE explosion-proof package to further limit hazards from aerosol storage.

Putaway in storage is totally random. 'Our retrieval system is designed to pick and batch,' says Rosaro. 'Operators start at one end of the aisle and go down it once; we never have to backtrack. The picking system dictates, in sequence, which location to go to.'