U.S. Marines Employ Carousel Technology
FKI Logistex White Systems Container
Carousels
Soldiers milled around their
Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles under a relentless
Iraqi sun, taking inventory of broken and damaged parts
while a gathering sandstorm scoured everything in sight.
Like the cruel airborne cousin of the southern dunes, the
Sharqi winds sandblasted both skin and steel alike, filtering
insidiously into areas of mechanical vulnerability and causing
the repair list to grow even longer. The soldiers would
need a warehouse full of parts to repair their equipment
and vehicles. Instead, they received carousels.
Most military buffs are familiar with the concept of supply
lines and their vulnerability in the Iraqi desert. Far fewer
understand what these lines are actually supplying. In addition
to ammunition, rations, medical supplies and equipment,
troops on the front line needed thousands of small maintenance
and repair parts to continue the march to Baghdad. The task
of supplying our forces with these materials fell to U.S.
Marines, who turned accordingly to FKI Logistex White Systems
for an appropriate solution. Because it’s difficult
to land an entire warehouse on a Kuwaiti beachhead, White
Systems supplied the Marines with a container carousel system
that accomplished the same ultimate goal.
The first White Systems container carousel was deployed
at Camp Fox in the desert bordering Kuwait City. Part of
an order of 19 identical systems, the mini-warehouse is
used by the Marines’ special-purpose Marine Air-Ground
Task Force. The carousel began its odyssey at the Blount
Island Marine base in Jacksonville, Florida, where it was
stocked with necessary parts and components. The container
was then shipped to Kuwait and trucked to the field. The
product’s design is a testament to robust engineering,
as it can withstand helicopter drops into difficult-to-reach
staging areas. This dedication to the demands of military
theatre was no accident. “I worked hand-in-hand with
White Systems to ensure that the proper features were put
into the carousels,” remembers Lt. Col. Paul Turner,
logistics director for the Blount Island command prepositioning
program. Turner conceptualized the equipment after working
with several larger carousels at North Carolina’s
Camp Lejeune five years earlier.
Housed in a container for rapid deployment in remote locations,
the White Systems container carousel is a self-contained
automated system of linked bins that travel around an oval
track housed inside a shipping container. When commanded,
the bins rotate to bring the parts to the picker via the
shortest route. “The primary goal of the container
carousels is to provide high-density storage and dedicated
locations for materials,” says John Molloy, vice president
of FKI Logistex White Systems. “We’ve designed
them to give the Marines the flexibility and durability
they need to store and retrieve small parts in the field.”
The carousels use the entire interior of the container
for storage--a total of 388 cubic feet--and feature a bin
capacity of 2,000 lb each. The system also includes an RS-232
port for computer hookup. In the grueling deserts of Iraq,
the systems must be able to handle extreme temperature fluctuation,
and are therefore equipped to operate in temperatures from
–30° to 120° F. Furthermore, the carousel
units are tested to operate at a 15-degree angle with an
unbalanced load, a crucial feature if the container is dropped
on an incline. “These carousels are an excellent way
to mobilize inventory for rapid deployment of any material
that fits, be it firefighting out West or the war in Iraq,”
says Molloy. “They can also be operated in a refrigerated
environment or even for use in mobilizing drug or vaccine
distribution in the event of an epidemic or bioterrorism
attack.”
The Marines using the carousel units haven’t taken
them for granted. Managing a massive inventory of components
critical to a military campaign is no small task, and the
White Systems carousels have simplified it immensely. “These
units came on shore with our Marines in Kuwait and operated
as a small-parts storage and retrieval system in their field
warehouse setup,” recalls Lt. Col. Al Will, project
officer with the Marine Forces Atlantic. “As you can
imagine, managing all of the small items necessary for the
field can be difficult without this type of system.”
Thousands of miles from home, battling both the elements
and enemy fighters, the last thing U.S. Marines need is
further difficulty. White Systems’ container carousels
may not be actively involved in the fighting, but they remain
integral to the soldiers’ success.
FKI Logistex White Systems Container Carousels
- 388 cubic feet storage capacity, 2,000 lb per bin
- Operable from –30° to 120° F
- Ready to use and completely assembled upon shipment
- 24–7 customer support
www.fkilogistex.com
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