May 29, 2002—To maximize storeroom capacity in its plant near Spartanburg, S.C, BMW Manufacturing Corp. recently utilized five Remstar Shuttle( Vertical Lift Modules (VLMs), which added production capacity and a more flexible manufacturing base.
To reach into the storeroom’s vertical cube, BMW installed five Remstar Shuttle VLMs side-by-side. The Shuttle VLM is a standalone, modular, enclosed system of vertically arranged storage trays, a workstation-type extraction platform, and computerized pushbutton controls for part retrieval. It stores and retrieves a variety of component containers on specially designed trays and delivers them to an ergonomically positioned workstation.
The Shuttle VLM has a vertical travel speed of 138 feet per minute, and an extraction speed of 10.63 inches per second. Three of the Shuttle units are 26 feet tall, while two are only 22 feet because of interfering roof beams. To help equalize storage capacity per VLM, the shorter units are wider—with wider internal trays (shelves)—to compensate. These units feature 69 trays each 72″W x 32″D. The taller, narrower VLMs have 55 trays each 49″W x 32″D.
Improved space utilization is a key advantage of vertical storage and retrieval systems. Depending on usable building interior heights, 75 percent and more of a conventional storage system’s occupied floor space can be recovered. The small unit footprint makes vertical storage and retrieval systems especially suitable for point-of-use storage, allowing more floor space to be assigned to value-added operations such as manufacturing and assembly. For more information, contact Remstar.
