Major Online Retailer Drives Productivity with High-Performance Freight Lifts

Major online retailer built a new distribution center to keep up with their growing demands.  Autoquip helped increase their efficiency in material handling by designing a four level freight lift system with advanced control operations.

Our skilled engineers designed a total of eight 4-post mechanical freight lifts that are located in 3 different shaft ways at the distribution facility. The freight lift systems are used to take goods to upper levels for storage until online orders are placed and ready for the order picking system.

Through our in-house controls capabilities, we designed a control panel for each freight lift that includes a VFD to control acceleration/deceleration of the lift carriage, and an HMI screen on each control panel door for maintenance access and lift performance monitoring. Illuminated operators on the pushbutton stations indicate lift present at a particular level and if there is currently a fault not allowing lift to run.

Additional equipment features:
• 4-Level, 582” Floor to Floor
• Powered Roll Up Doors
• Oversized Carriage
• C Front Loading Pattern
• 5,000 max lifting for each lift
• (4) Press and Release E Stop on each floor
• Expanded Metal Enclosures on all levels

The team at Autoquip completed this project on time to meet the opening dates of the distribution center.  Autoquip provided a turnkey design and supply of the freight lifts and control panels along with overseeing the installation of the project. Employees of the online retailer benefit from reliable equipment that is simple to use and monitor performance so downtime is limited and productivity rates are on track.