Stacking up productivity

When planning a replacement warehouse for its Kansas City service centre, US steel distributor Steel and Pipe Supply (SPS) had a clear vision of its priorities: safety, high throughput, minimal error rates and a compact footprint. The company found its supplier of choice in KASTO.

The broad product range available from SPS includes structural steel, flat sheet/plate and coil. The company also offers a variety of value-added services to customer specification, such as sawing, drilling and bevelling, as well as flame, laser and plasma cutting.

SPS had already installed KASTO automated storage systems at its sites in Tulsa (Oklahoma) and Longview (Texas), both of which subsequently experienced significant performance improvements.

“The systems make our operations faster, more precise and significantly safer,” states SPS Co-President John Conley.

Like many steel stockholders, SPS faces numerous challenges, such as limited storage space, the risk of operator injury from handling heavy goods and the need for precise stock management. A KASTO UNICOMPACT 5.0 honeycomb automated storage and retrieval system subsequently became the first choice solution. Constructed for maximum storage density, the system makes optimal use of the available space. Automated loading and unloading reduce manual labour, while accelerating picking and material flow.

Due to the goods-to-person design, orders are processed quickly and ergonomically, ensuring both high throughput and operator convenience. SPS can now move long stock more efficiently, with fewer handling errors and less waste.

The system is designed to manage material up to 24 ft (7.3 m) in length and 16 inches (406 mm) high. With thousands of individual honeycomb storage locations, KASTO says the high-density configuration provides far greater storage capacity than conventional racking systems. Fast cassette changes streamline operations, enabling staff to retrieve material and consolidate orders quickly.

Material movement is monitored in real time via the KASTOlogic warehouse management system. This intelligent software records inventory data automatically, removing the need for manual entries and reducing the likelihood of errors or misplaced stock. The results are greater transparency, improved accuracy and reduced labour costs.

With the Kasto UNICOMPACT in place, the Kansas City centre is now able to stock about 16,000 tonnes of material. Although the project involved a few logistical challenges, John praises the fast and professional support of KASTO’s US-based team. “Their support is excellent. Whenever we need assistance, engineers are quick to respond and highly competent. That kind of reliability keeps downtime to a minimum and helps us remain agile.”