Site: Toyota, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz Dealerships

Combining high density storage with the ability to get parts with a push of a button made this decision a snap.

Application: Automotive parts department storage and retrieval requirements.

Equipment: Vertical carousels, Shuttle™ VLMs and FastPic Automotive inventory management software.

Summary: Vertical carousels, Shuttle VLMs and software were used to reduce floor space and labor costs.

Multiple automotive dealership facilities throughout California utilize KardexRemstar’s automated storage and retrieval solutions to maximize their stores efficiencies.

Mercedes-Benz of Sacramento utilizes a combination of Shuttle VLMs, vertical carousels and FastPic Automotive inventory management software.

The VLM is 15’ 9” high with 50 trays. “The VLM stores inventory as high as our mezzanine bin system use to without the need for endless walking, step climbing and searching,” says Robert Watson, Service and Parts Director.

The Shuttle VLM is an enclosed automated storage and retrieval system of vertically arranged trays, an ergonomically positioned extraction platform and computerized controls. Vertical design takes advantage of unused overhead space, recovering floor space for higher value-added applications such as more service bays, sales offices or lower construction costs. Its small footprint allows it to be strategically placed at point of use for optimum productivity and throughput.

Every KardexRemstar Shuttle VLM is equipped with CubeStar™ technology. By combining hardware and controls the VLM provides up to 50 percent more storage capacity than conventional VLMs.

Depending on available height, one vertical carousel can store up to 110 parts bins. Most stores have been able to store up to 156 parts per carrier shelf within the carousel. Vertical carousels provide quick access to parts via a system of vertically arranged rotating carrier shelves that bring the exact pick/store position to the operator.

Productivity can often increase by more than 2.5 times when compared with traditional small parts and bulky bin shelving. Shuttle VLMs can store cases as well as small parts delivered on trays with a push of a button.

Carrier shelves can be configured to hold a variety of bin sizes, allowing the efficient storage of parts ranging from small fasteners to kits to special tools and larger parts. The vertical carousel system is particularly suitable to kitting applications where several part numbers must be picked as a unit.

Kearny Mesa Toyota utilizes two vertical carousels and FastPic Automotive inventory manangement software to store and retrieve their spare parts. The carousels are 21’ 11” high and have 69 shelf levels within each unit.

Kearny Mesa Lexus of San Diego has one vertical carousel in its parts department. The unit is 16’ 8” high with 43 shelf levels.

Customers, service technicians and phone orders go to the service desk. The desk technician simply puts the demand in their ADP or host software system. The order is automatically down-loaded to FastPic Automotive inventory manangement software.

A pick is generated to the operator. The carousel spins to the correct position and pick light shows the correct tote to pick. The operator picks the correct part and hits the task complete button indicating the pick is complete. The part is delivered to the requestor and the next pick is waiting for the operator.