How our products can optimize your warehouse space

High-density storage solutions vs Static shelves: Maximize floor space utilization and optimize storage capacity

Companies have stored items on static shelves for years, but lately, they’re realizing that this system is a huge waste of space. Modern high-density storage solutions, such as Modula’s vertical lift modules, can reduce space requirements by up to 90 percent.

This video demonstrates how the space savings are made possible. You’ll notice that one of the big reasons for wasted space is that there are aisles between the shelves to allow people to retrieve items. Different types of warehouse storage systems have tried to solve this space-hogging problem in a variety of ways: reducing the space between the aisles, keeping the shelves bunched up and pulled apart to access one shelf at a time, placing items for retrieval on one end or the other, etc.

But warehouse space utilization requires more than just reducing the total footprint of the storage system. It also must allow operators to retrieve items of all sorts quickly and easily. These other systems don’t allow that. The result: a much lower throughput than what is feasible with a vertical lift module.

The other issue is that even when traditional shelving’s problems with space between aisles are addressed, there’s still the problem of space between shelves. Usually there’s waste because the tallest items are accommodated, but that means providing more space than necessary for smaller items. 

In Modula’s vertical lift module, the machine optimizes space between shelves and allows you to store items in any configuration you want. There’s no need to group like items together on a shelf when they’re of different sizes. The VLM retrieves items based on what is typed into its touchscreen, so they can be stored on any of the machine’s internal storage trays.

Of course, an automated storage system requires a larger capital outlay than a simple shelving system. But the costs are quickly recovered because of the space savings, productivity gains and near-zero picking errors. In fact, you can expect an ROI in anywhere from 6 to 18 months.