The biggest challenge facing logistics managers dealing in pallet loads of products is a straightforward one but often difficult to resolve.

How do you maximise storage space yet maintain a high enough level of selectivity to assure the rapid retrieval of any individual pallet load on demand? 
Various storage techniques have been developed over the years in response to the challenge, but each has limitations due to cost and inconvenience.
The best storage solution is one in which there is maximum floor space utilisation without compromising on selectivity. 
Flow racks would work but again there are accessibility issues, it is expensive, and there is no flexibility as to future use. Mobile racking is best but the cost implications are too high.
Dubai-based Al Mawakeb Trading has offered an alternative: the Swedish-make Symosat Pallet Cart, which it says offers everything one needs plus, since it has dense storage lanes, the user can locate it close to shipping and receiving areas for rapid loading of trailers and unloading without having to stage loads separately.

Advantages
The company has listed Symosat Pallet Cart’s advantages as:
It gives selectivity: It gives more pick faces than a drive-in type application (in a drive-in of 10 lanes 4 high the selectivity is 10; this system makes it 10 lanes x 4 high = 40 pick faces).
It saves floor space: It can operate in depths as deep as 50 m compared to 10 m for a drive-in hence less intermediate and main aisles are required; also the width is less, as the need for forklift entry is not there.
Faster in operation: Travel speed with load 0.75 m/s and 0.9 m/s when empty.
Smoother and damage free: It is guided on rails which act as loading levels for pallets. Hence no manual guiding is required thereby eliminating the physical movement of the forklift into the system and damage caused by manual guiding.
Saves manhours: It saves on manpower, since it is operated by the driver. The operation of delivering the pallet on the pick face is independent and remote controlled, not requiring further control by any personnel.
Saves recurring electricity expenses: Since there is no need for personnel to enter the system, the system lighting is not required.
Saves on good-quality flooring: As there is no need for any equipment to operate in the system, flooring does not have to be high quality.
FIFO & FILO applications: Both possible in one aisle, with just an addition of reflective strips in the aisle.

How does the Symosat Pallet Cart work?
Explaining the working of the Symosat Pallet Cart, Al Mawakeb Trading says it is a robotic device that may be described as an intelligent platform on wheels running along lanes in specially designed racking.
“On command it positions itself under a pallet load then elevates itself a couple of centimeters to pick up the load and carry it along the lane to the pick face or in reverse, away from the pick face and into the storage.
“The big advantage of the Symosat Pallet Cart is that, once directed on its way by a lift truck operator (using a hand-held radio frequency transmitter) it performs its magic automatically and independently. For instance, in a storage cycle, lift truck drivers just concentrate on supplying the Symosat Pallet Cart with fresh pallet loads, for it will have done its work and wait at the pick face when the driver returns with the next pallet load.
“Alternatively in the picking cycle each time the driver returns to the pick face, a load will be sitting there waiting, ready to be taken away. Once the work is finished in one lane, the driver can lift the Symosat Pallet Cart out on its forks and place it on the rails in another lane and continue working. The Symosat Pallet Cart is an independent unit and can operate anywhere from ground floor level to the highest level of the rack.”
As explained by the company, Symosat Pallet Runner operates with two forms of guidance. Reflective strips at the end of each lane alert it to slow down and come to a stop, while on-board electric eyes, front and back, alert it to the proximity of other loads along the lane. The hand-held radio transmitter that controls the Symosat Pallet Cart communicates both lift and move directions. Depending on throughput and the size of the storage lane, one or more of them can be deployed, and all can be controlled from a single remote.

No special-handling equipment needed
This in fact, is another key element of Symosat Pallet Cart’s success, stresses the company. “The user does not need special lift equipment to make it work. The standard counter balance trucks that service the Symosat Pallet Cart are the same vehicles that are used in and out of trailers at the loading dock. Loads at the pick face are fully visible to the lift truck operator, requiring none of the special skills when working with say deep-reach systems.”

Technical specifications
The Symosat Pallet Cart has an onboard battery, and when its charge dips below a certain level, it is programmed to return ‘home’ or in other words at the pick face. From there it is picked up by a forklift and taken to the charging station. Symosat Pallet Cart weighs 240 kg and has a load capacity of 1,200 kg. The 150 mm diameter x 40 mm width vulcolan-threaded wheels and 4x4 drive generally ensure a smooth travel. The lifting of pallets is achieved by four hydraulic cylinders strategically placed inside the body. They lift a full tray, which itself lifts the pallet. The total lift is only 4.5 cm. The system is controlled by wireless operation through a hand-held/forklift mounted remote control which operates an on board Symosat PLC and drive servo control. It also accommodates changes to WMS and is fully reprogrammable as far as its own operational software is concerned. Being easy to remove from the rack structure it is easy to service.
Symosat Pallet Cart is designed for pallet dimensions of 1200 x 800/1000/ 200 mm. Symosat Cold Pallet Cart is designed for full shift operating temperatures of -25C.
Al Mawakeb launched the Symosat Pallet Cart at the Materials Handling Show held in Dubai recently. The company also assists customers to plan their storage system for Symosat Pallet Cart.