For Medex Inc., a global medical device manufacturer for intensive care procedures, timing is critical. However, to maintain a just-in-time production schedule at one of its plants, the company needed to mend its storage process.

A transition from inefficient pallet and pull-out rack storage to a semi-automated storage and retrieval system now provides 100% storage density of molds worth nearly $20 million. What's more, it allows only one worker to retrieve a mold in a fraction of the time with the old system.

Medex supplies products for intensive care units, anesthesia/operating rooms, respiratory therapy and alternate care. At the injection molding facility in Dublin, Ohio, a tool room where molds are stored, repaired and staged was disorganized, limiting productivity. Costly molds, valued at $20,000 to $250,000 each, were stored on wooden pallets and scattered throughout the tool room or placed in a pull-out rack system with fixed storage levels. Retrieving molds weighing hundreds of pounds often required two to three people and took almost 15 minutes. Back injuries were common too.

All that changed with a 2,000-pound capacity rack system consisting of removable, adjustable captive steel pallets and an integrated storage/retrieval (S/R) machine. Workers guide the powered S/R machine to a position and manually retrieve a pallet. The crane then safely transports the palletized mold to production.

With adjustable locations in 4-inch increments, the storage system allows pallets to be placed as close to each other as possible. That means Medex can store all molds of varying sizes while maintaining the same footprint as its former rack. Now it takes workers only one to two minutes to locate and retrieve molds. And back strains and injuries have been eliminated.