Figure 5.5 (a) Mobile rack; (b) vertical storage carousel. Reproduced by per-mission of Mecalux....
Storage carousels.
These are motorized systems where the bays move contemporaneously (vertically or horizontally) so as to present the storage bay concerned for storing and picking operations in correspondence to the fixed position of the operator (see Figure 5.5b). They enable the storage of many parcels in small volumes and make the storage and picking phases very quick. This solution has, however, two disadvantages: it needs high investments and it is not suitable for voluminous or very heavy load units.