Stoffel Equipment Company, the Raymond Dealership in Milwaukee, WI and Spacesaver Corporation of Fort Atkinson, WI have integrated Raymond ‘s Very Narrow Aisle (VNA) equipment with Spacesaver’s newest rack design, the XTend ™ Mobile High Bay Storage System (patent pending).

 

The mobile high bay allows for highdensity utilization of high bay racking and shelving incorporating VNA trucks. Traditional static applications require a VNA between every row of shelving. Mobile high bay requires only one accessible VNA per mobile shelving unit.

Additional wire guidance paths for the moving aisle fall under the mobile carriages when not accessed.

This XTend ™ Mobile High-Bay Storage System is developed for archival storage in the record and book depository markets.

Traditional high bay shelving is placed on mobile carriage bases to allow compacting the shelving to save space and/or increase capacity.

The mobile carriages travel on laser leveled rails imbedded in concrete floor.

 

Mike Holzbauer, Stoffel’s Service Manager, worked closely with Spacesaver to integrate the lift truck wire guidance into the floor and rail system.

The mobile high bay rail system is designed and laid out to allow guidance wire to pass through the rail at appropriate aisle locations using a proprietary solution developed by Spacesaver. An 11-inch (280 mm) piece of PVC Schedule 40 conduit with capped ends provides pathway for guidance wire through each rail.

Wire guidance path was saw cut 3/4 inches (19 mm) deep up to each rail.

The saw cut penetrates the PVC conduit at each rail crossing, allowing wire to be threaded throughout the rail system.

Raymond Models 5400, 5500, and 5600, orderpickers are Spacesaver’s lift truck of choice. Brian Nemec, NPD project engineer at Spacesaver said he began a feasibility study with Stoffel in 2007. “Raymond is a leader in technology and we wanted to work with the best,” Nemec said.

Stoffel came in last year and cut the floor to install the wire guidance system. The racking was then installed.

To assist customers in managing their mobile high bay storage environment, Spacesaver also installed an infrared photo electronic beam on both sides of each moveable carriage to assist in protecting objects in the aisle.

Spacesaver developed a “Sweep Blocker” which mounts to the Raymond orderpicker at the rail guidance mounting locations.

Should another user of the mobile system inadvertently initiate carriage movement with an orderpicker in the aisle, the “Sweep Blocker” blocks the photoelectric beam and stops the carriage movement. The shape and PVC belt material chosen allows the “Sweep Blocker” to deflect as the moving carriage stops, preventing carriage direct impact with the orderpicker base. The “Sweep Blocker” feature can be ordered as a Raymond Dealer installed option.

“This is a whole new market for us.”Nemec said. The collaboration with Stoffel has been rewarding. He said he highly recommends his clients look to Raymond when they are putting in their high bay storage system.

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