Bin Shelving
DistribuTek Leaning Center
Bin shelving is the oldest and still the most popular equipment alternative in use
for small parts order picking. The low initial cost, easy re-configurability, easy
installation, and low maintenance requirements are at the heart of this popularity.
With bin shelving, however, savings in initial cost and maintenance may be offset by inflated space and labor requirements.
Space is frequently underutilized in bin shelving, since the full inside dimensions
of each unit are rarely usable. Also, since people are extracting the items, the
height of shelving units is limited by the reaching height of a human being. As
a result, the available building cube may also be underutilized. Two additional
disadvantages of bin shelving are supervisory problems and item security/protection
problems. Supervisory problems arise because it is difficult to supervise people
through a maze of bin shelving units. Security and item protection problems arise
because bin shelving is one of a class of open systems (ie: the items are exposed
to and accessible from the picking aisle).
As with all of the equipment types, these disadvantages must be evaluated and compared
with the advantages of low initial cost and low maintenance requirements in order
to make an appropriate equipment selection.
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