DC Velocity - April 2017

M at er i a l H a nd l i n g

ST O RAG E SY S TE M S

46 DC VELOCITY APRIL 2017 www.dcvelocity.com the work easier—especially in the case of jobs that would normally require significant physical strength. “We can now hire people who are older to do that work because of the automation,” he adds.

The Sagamihara building’s automation, supplied by Daifuku, is quite extensive. The facility boasts five different automated storage systems, including three pallet automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS), a miniload for cases, and a shuttle storage system. A fleet of sorting transfer vehicles that ride on rails connects many of the storage areas to order fulfillment areas. Other operations in the building are fed by more than 5,500 meters (approximately 3 1/2 miles) of conveyors. A sliding shoe sorter with 42 diverts serves the shipping area, and a number of vertical lifts raise and lower products to the building’s different floors. On average, the automated system holds nearly 400,000 cases at any given time.

The facility also relies on technology to direct picking, using both pick-to-light and radio-frequency (RF)-directed systems. All together, the automation allows the facility to process over 145,000 lots daily, composed of both food and non-food products.

TAILOR-MADE STORAGE

Although the Sagamihara facility does not handle fresh
foods, many of the goods it distributes do have a short shelf
life. As a result, products typically remain in the facility no
longer than 10 days. The operation processes goods on a
first-in/first-out basis to assure freshness. About 13,000
stock-keeping units (SKUs) are housed in the building at
any given time—about 9,600 food items and 3,400 non-
food products.

The facility has a total of 105 truck positions used for receiving and shipping. Products typically arrive in the morning, while orders are filled in the afternoon and delivered to stores that evening or the next morning.

Forklifts supplied by UniCarriers unload pallets from arriving trucks at ground level for transport to the vertical lifts, which raise them to the three AS/RSs located on the building’s third floor. Two of the AS/RS systems store unit loads (pallets) of food products, while the third handles non-food pallets.

The largest of the food AS/RS units holds 9,792 pallets of faster-moving “A” products. Each of the nine aisles has two cranes that work in concert to deliver products to opposite ends of the aisles. Having more than one crane per aisle increases uptime and access to the storage positions, and also results in greater throughput for the system. Pallets that are discharged from the AS/RS are raised by pallet lifters to the fourth floor, where they are rolled onto 15 sorting trans-