Hybrid Pallet and Tote AS/RS for Multi-Floor JIT Line Feeding in Equipment Manufacturing

When a manufacturing plant expands, logistics complexity often grows faster than building area. That is especially true for equipment manufacturers running mixed-model production: bulky materials must move safely, while small parts with high SKU diversity must be delivered in the right sequence—often across multiple floors.

In this project, a global compressor and pump equipment manufacturer planned a new factory with smart manufacturing as a core objective. DELIECN engineered a hybrid internal logistics system combining pallet storage automation and tote storage automation, designed to support kitting completeness, JIT delivery, and multi-floor line feeding without relying on manual handling as volumes scale.

What the Plant Needed

The target was not only higher storage density, but also controllable production supply:

1、Serve lines on two floors with coordinated replenishment

2、Separate heavy and small parts flows while keeping scheduling consistent

3、Reduce waiting and buffering uncertainty at line-side handover points

4、Link warehouse and production data via WMS and ERP/MES connectivity

System Design: Two Storage Systems, One Execution Logic

DELIECN structured the program around two complementary subsystems:

• Pallet AS/RSfor bulky and heavy loads that benefit from structured, mechanized handling
• Tote AS/RSfor small parts requiring high-frequency access and fine-grained SKU control
• Supporting equipment—including RGV, lifters, conveyors, and high-precision racking—connects storage to production handover points. A WMS provides inventory structure and process logic, with interface capability to ERP/MES for traceable execution.

Pallet Flow: Density + Rhythm

The pallet AS/RS uses a single-rail dual-stacker-crane layout to fit the restricted site conditions while enabling parallel operations.

Project configuration highlights:

• 2,868 pallet positions
• ~1,578 pallets/dayreported throughput
• RGV single/dual-station setupto support inbound/outbound buffering and stabilize takt time
• Chain and roller conveyors to connect storage, staging, and line-side logistics nodes
• This setup focuses on predictable heavy-load movement and controlled handover to production.

Tote Flow: SKU Control + High-Frequency Access

For the long tail of parts, the tote AS/RS provides:

• 1,928 tote locations
• structure for high-SKU inventory and frequent retrieval
• support for kitting and small-batch replenishment aligned with production scheduling

A Practical Detail That Improves Circulation

Carrier circulation can become a hidden bottleneck. In this program, pallet carriers were routed with a split-flow design:

• upper route for loaded pallets
• lower route for empty pallets
• This reduces congestion and improves carrier return efficiency, supporting more stable supply to production.

Performance Indicators (Reported)

The customer focused on density, speed, and accuracy while maintaining traceability:

• Approx. 3× space utilization improvementcompared with conventional floor storage
• Approx. 80% overall logistics efficiency improvement(project-reported)
• Automated goods-to-person workflows with reported accuracy up to 99.99%
• Traceability enabled via WMS integration to ERP/MES and centralized visualization (3D control platform)

Why This Pattern Is Repeatable

For equipment manufacturing plants that must feed lines across floors and handle mixed materials, the “pallet + tote” pattern is widely applicable because it:

• keeps heavy-load flow structured and safe,
• keeps small-part flow responsive and SKU-accurate,
• enables kitting completeness and JIT delivery,
• supports software-level traceability across warehouse and production.