Application
Film Coating. Material Staging For Production And Finished Goods Storage

Product

Problem
Rolls Required Handling Through The Cores To Prevent Damage To The Film. A Person Had To Assemble Special Supports For Each Roll So It Could Be Stored In Standard Pallet Racking. This Added Another Step In The Manufacturing Process While Taking Up A Lot Of Floor Space. Raw Material And Finished Roll Storage Was Spread Throughout The Plant That Resulted In Long Machine Changeover Times (And Machine Downtime) And Also Made It Difficult To Pull Orders For Finished Product.

Alternatives: Standard Fork Lifts And Racking Were Considered Since The Current Plant Utilized Several In The Current Process. However, Because Of The Wide Range Of Roll Diameters The Current Racking Was Wasting A Lot Of Storage Space. The Loss Of Storage Space Was Amplified With The Large Aisle Required When Using Fork Trucks. There Also Was A Problem With Operating A Fork Truck Efficiently And Safely While At The Same Time Not Damaging The Valuable Rolls.

Rapistak Solution
One (1) 2,000 Lb. Capacity Integrated Stacker Crane And Special Cantilever Rack System With 90 Degree Indicator Lights, Digital Probe Height Indicator And Video Camera Alignment System

Benefit Of Using The Stacker Crane System
Through The Use Of Special Probe Style Racking And The Small Aisle Required With The Stacker Crane, The System Was Able To Store 480 Rolls (Ranging From 15” To 25” Dia. And 60” To 76” Long) In Less Than 1,900 Square Feet. This Allowed The Rolls To Be Stored Next To The Machines For Much Faster Changeovers. By Utilizing A Special Crane Probe And Racking, There Is No Longer A Need For Special Roll Handling Supports To Be Made. This Eliminated One Entire Step In The Roll Handling Process And Opened Up Additional Floor Space For Manufacturing.

This Combination Of Dense Storage Next To The Machines, Less Handling Due To Centralized Storage, And Simplified Storage And Retrieval Using A Stacker Crane With Indicator Lights Resulted In Less Product Damage While Improving Throughput And Increasing Plant Capacity For More Machines.

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