Sistemas automatizados de armazenamento e recuperação para tubos de 6m de comprimento.

The Hidden Costs in Your Pipe & Tube Warehouse

For managers in metal service centers, building material distribution, and aluminum extrusion plants, the daily reality of handling long stock is a battle against inefficiency. The challenges go far beyond simply finding a place to put things; they directly impact your operational costs and output capacity.

The “Honeycomb” Trap and Wasted Motion

Conventional cantilever racking, while a step up from floor stacking, creates a logistical bottleneck. To access a bundle of steel pipes stored in a rear position, your forklift operator must first remove the two, three, or even four bundles in front of it. This multi-step process, repeated dozens of time a day, burns fuel, adds hours of non-productive labor, and increases the chance of material damage with every move.

Aisles as Unproductive Real Estate

The core problem is geometry. A side-loader forklift needs an aisle width of at least 16 feet (approx. 5 meters) to safely maneuver a 20-foot (6m) load into position. In a typical 50,000 sq. ft. facility, this can mean over 30,000 sq. ft. is dedicated to nothing but empty space for machine access. This forces you to either acquire more expensive land for expansion or limit your on-hand inventory, hurting your ability to respond to customer orders.

A New Geometry: The Cantilever AS/RS Principle

Instead of adapting your materials to the limitations of a forklift, an Automated Storage and Retrieval System (AS/RS) designed for long goods redefines the entire workflow. The starack-Long solution combines two core technologies to fundamentally solve the space and handling dilemma.

1. Ultra-Narrow Aisle Stacker Crane

The system replaces the bulky forklift with a lean, rail-guided Stacker Crane. This machine operates in an aisle that is only marginally wider than the load itself—typically around 5 feet (1.5 meters). Constructed from Q355 high-strength steel, the crane’s rigid mast structure allows it to operate at heights of over 100 feet (30m+), transforming your vertical air space into productive storage locations.

2. Intelligent 90-Degree Load Handling

The true innovation lies at the interface. Instead of requiring a wide turning radius, pipes are brought to the system via a conveyor. A specialized 90-degree rotating conveyor or a side-shuttle mechanism accepts the material lengthwise, rotates it, and presents it to the Stacker Crane for direct, lateral pickup. This simple, automated movement is what completely eliminates the need for wide, wasteful aisles.

From Cost Center to Competitive Advantage: The “After” State

Implementing a Cantilever AS/RS moves your storage operation from a manual, reactive cost center to a strategic, automated asset. The benefits are immediate and quantifiable.

Metric	Before: Conventional Forklift & Racking	After: starack-Long Cantilever AS/RS
Floor Space Utilization	Low; 60%+ of warehouse area dedicated to wide aisles.	High; Storage density increased by up to 200%.
Retrieval Time	15-25 minutes per pick, involving moving multiple bundles.	Under 3 minutes per pick; direct access to any bundle.
Inventory Accuracy	Manual, paper-based; frequent “lost” stock.	99.99%+ accuracy via WMS integration.
Material Damage	Common; scratches, dents from forklift handling.	Eliminated; S-Curve acceleration ensures smooth, precise handling.
Worker Safety	High risk from maneuvering heavy, awkward loads.	Dramatically improved; operators work safely at ergonomic stations.

Case Study Snapshot: A Pipe Manufacturer Reclaims its Warehouse

Problem: A PVC pipe manufacturer was losing a significant portion of their warehouse to aisle space. Their 20-foot (6m) product lengths required a 17-foot wide channel for their side-loader forklifts to operate, effectively rendering over half their facility unusable for storage.

Solução: We deployed the starack-Long Cantilever AS/RS. The core of the solution was an automated infeed station equipped with a 90-degree rotating conveyor. This allowed full bundles of pipe to be fed into the system end-on, rotated, and then picked laterally by the stacker crane for storage.

Resultado: The aisle width was drastically reduced from 17 feet to just 5 feet. This single change allowed the client to increase their total storage capacity by 200% within their existing building footprint. This eliminated the need for a costly new building expansion and streamlined their entire material flow from production to shipping.