1. Warehousing Equipment
Tompkins et al., “Facilities Planning”, John Wiley & Sons, 1996: Chapters 6, 9
College-Industry Council on Material Handling Education: Material Handling Equipment Taxonomy:

2. The role of equipment in warehouse operations
Reduce cost (labor + space)
enhance space utilization by, e.g.,
enabling the exploitation of the vertical dimension of the facility
allowing for denser packing
allow for more efficient order-picking by, e.g.,
increasing the sku density
supporting the automated transfer of material from storage to sorting and consolidation area
Enhance responsiveness
increase the throughput of the facility, e.g.,
establishing a more ergonomic environment/arrangement for the warehouse operators
facilitating the parallelization of order picking
by parallelizing the tasks of order-picking and replensihment

3. The role of equipment in warehouse operations (cont.)
Maintain Quality of Product and Operations
provide an orderly storage environment
provide efficient ways for product tracing and identification
provide safe and secure material handling
facilitate order sortation and consolidation
establish and maintain a controlled environment e.g.,
temperature control
access control

4. Equipment Classification (Tompkins et. al., pgs 170-173)
Containers & Unitizing Equipment
Storage and Retrieval Equipment
Unit Load
Small Load
Conveyors
Warehouse docks and dock-related equipment
Automatic Identification and Communication Equipment

5. For detailed functional descriptions, discussion on supported efficiencies, and pictures
College-Industry Council on Material Handling Education: Material Handling Equipment Taxonomy:
Tompkins et al., “Facilities Planning”, John Wiley & Sons, 1996: Chapters 6, 9

6. Pallet Storage Modes Block Stacking Rack Storage Single-Deep
Double-Deep
Drive-In/Through
Pallet Flow
Unit Load AS/RS
etc.

7. Block Stacking (or Floor Storage)
Lane Height
Lane Depth
(3-deep)
Lanes
An efficient storage mode when
there are multiple pallets per SKU;
inventory is turned in large increments, I.e., several loads of the same SKU are received or withdrawn at one time.
Main problems:
Loss of space due to “honeycombing”
not effective utilization of the vertical dimension of the facility

8. Selective or Single-Deep or Simple Pallet Rack
The “benchmark” storage mode
Due to rack supports, each pallet is independently accessible (i.e. it supports totally random access)
Trade-off: too many aisles => inefficient space utilization

9. Double-deep rack
Two selective racks placed back-to-back => 2-deep lanes
Each lane dedicated to one SKU => space loss in case of SKU’s with odd number of pallets
Less aisle space required (upto 50% savings in aisle space)
Trade-off: More work and/or specialized equipment for retrieving

10. Other pallet rack types
Drive-In/Through rack: 5-10 loads deep
Better space utilization
More difficult, even dangerous retrieval
Pallet flow rack: up to 8 pallets deep
The rack shelves are slanted and have rollers, and therefore, every time a pallet is retrieved from a lane, the pallet behind it takes its position.
Allows for simultaneous picking and restocking
Supports FIFO operation
Typically used in high-throughput facilities
Cantilever rack:
Supports long items like timber and pipes

11. Unit-Load Retrieval Equipment
Key Differentiation factors:
aisle width requirements
lift height/weight capacity
Lane depth they can reach
degree of automation
capital expense
Major types
Walkie Stacker
Counterbalance Lift Truck
Narrow Aisle Vehicles
Automated Storage/Retrieval Machines

12. Small Load Storage and Retrieval Equipment
Operator-to-Stock (or Man-to-Part or in-the-aisle) system: the operator travels to the storage location to retrieve material
Stock-to-Operator (or Part-to-Man or end-of-aisle) system: the material is mechanically transported to the operator for retrieval
Advantages of STO:
higher productivity
easier supervision
better item security and protection
Disadvantages of STO:
more expensive
more maintenance
more difficult to reconfigure

13. Operator-to-Stock Storage Equipment
Bin Shelving
Modular Storage Drawers in Cabinets
Carton Flow Racks
Mobile Storage
All the above equipment can also be arranged in mezzanines to get a better exploitation of the building cube.

14. Operator-to-Stock Retrieval Equipment
Picking Cart
Order Picker Truck (for higher placed loads)
Person-aboard Automated Storage/Retrieval Machine
captive aisle
free roaming
(Robotic Retrieval)

15. Stock-to-Operator Equipment
Carousels
Horizontal
Vertical
Independently Rotating Racks
Miniload Automated Storage and Retrieval Machine
Automatic Dispenser
Productivity gains
Allow for extensive parallelization of order retrievals
Focus on extracting rather than traveling and searching

16. Conveyors (Flat) Belt Roller Telescoping Belt Chute Sorting Remarks:
Deflector
Push Diverter
Pop-up Skewed Wheels
Pop-up Roller
Tilt tray
Remarks:
Conveyors change the economics of travel.
They can partition physically the warehouse into zones

17. Warehouse docks and dock-related equipment
Warehouse docks: The facility interface with the shipping carriers
Dock configurations and dimensioning

18. Equipment facilitating the interfacing between docks and shipping carriers
Dock levelers: compensate the height difference between the carrier platform and the dock door
mobile yard ramps
permanent adjustable dock boards
truck levelers
scissors-type lifting docks
Bumper pads: absorb the shock from the impact of the shipping trailer with the dock walls (laminated rubber cushions)
40,000 lb load traveling 4 mph => 150,000 lb force
Dock shelter: a flexible shield that when engaged to the carrier provides a closed-environment interface between it and the inner area of the warehouse
energy savings, increased safety, product protection, etc.

19. Automatic Identification and Communication Equipment
Permits real-time, nearly flawless data collection and communication, and therefore, it facilitates and increases the real-time awareness of the location, amount, origin, destination and schedule of the material.

20. Automatic Identification and Recognition
Bar coding technology:
bar codes
bar code readers
bar code printers
Optical character recognition
Radio Frequency (RF) and Surface Accoustical Wave (SAW) tags
Magnetic Stripes
Machine Vision

21. Automatic Paperless Communication
RF data terminal
Voice headset
Light and Computer Aids
Smart card