Companies that store large quantities of long and flat goods conventionally on the floor or in racks often have a real space problem. The solution is often right in front of them. Norsk Stal has met this challenge with an automatic honeycomb warehouse that was installed in the summer of 2015. Thanks to the system's high-density design and a storage height of 20 meters, the Norwegian steel and metal distributor can store around 15,000 tons of material in a space of 760 square meters. What makes the “honeycomb” so special is that it is used to store both long goods and sheets. The storage and retrieval machine with the patented pulling technology can handle two cassette formats – for sheets and long goods.
The storage and retrieval machine provides sheets for picking at a special storage location. The employees remove the metal sheets in the 3015 and 4020 formats in the exact quantities required and transport them by crane to the packaging department. The result is fast order processing with minimal use of resources.
Norsk Stal's long goods customers mainly request their material in a semi-finished state. That is why the storage system was designed so that processing machines from any manufacturer can be connected. In the future, up to three saws can be grouped around the “honeycomb”. To ensure a smooth workflow, they are each fed from a storage location. On the other hand, Norsk Stal removes long goods requested as raw materials from storage via a separate picking station. Thanks to the automated processes, the steel and metal distributor achieves an availability of around 98 percent.
