Interior and drawers for storage machines

A vertical carousel or a lift machine normally has empty shelves with no subdivisions. To create compartments or storage spaces on the shelves, boxes, dividers, bins or other specially designed solutions are therefore used. Furnishings for vending machines are not only an easy way to create compartments / storage spaces, with the right furnishings you can also generate both better ergonomics and fill rates. In this guide, you will find some tips and thoughts from us regarding interior design for your vertical carousel and vertical storage lifts.

Furnishings for vertical storage lifts

All vending machines have basically clean shelves when sold second-hand or from the factory. In cases where the shelves are very wide and have to withstand a lot, there may sometimes be stabilizing strips across the shelves, but otherwise clean. Below we list some of the most common interior design options along with the pros and cons of each solution.

Corrugated cardboard boxes

An option offered by almost all suppliers of vending machines is to buy corrugated cardboard boxes. Corrugated cardboard boxes are available in a variety of predefined sizes and usually the ready-made solutions are sufficient to cover your needs. Should you need completely customized dimensions, they can be ordered, but at a higher cost.

+ Low cost
+ Can be customized for the goods

– Dirt sticks (not good with oily/greasy items)
– Not flexible, ordered dimensions of the boxes apply

Existing plastic boxes

If you go from using shelf racks to buying an elevator machine, it is very likely that you already have existing plastic boxes you can use. Of course, this is a simple solution, but it may not be the best.

+ Low / no cost
+ Easy to move with the goods

– Drawers are usually not adapted to the shelves (low fill rate)
– Drawers are not always adapted to the goods (low fill rate)

Sumobox

Sumobox is a subsidiary of Kardex Remstar and is the only known manufacturer to create boxes specifically for elevator machines. Sumobox is a flexible and modular plastic interior for elevator machines. Learn more at www.sumobox.se.

+ Customized as standard for lift machines
+ Height adjustable with modules
+ Light in weight
+ Flexible dividers that can be moved to meet changing needs

– High cost
– Only available to buy new for Kardex elevator machines
– Takes some time to assemble

Metal interior

One option offered by most vending machine suppliers is to purchase customized and flexible metal shelving. The design of this type of shelving usually allows you to move the compartments in order to have flexibility in the compartment sizes.

+ Very durable
+ Flexible
+ ESD safe
+ Dirt does not stick

– High cost
– Not flexible in height
– Relatively heavy

Tape

In fact, tape can be, and is, used to divide shelves into compartments and storage spaces. In particular, it can be useful if you are storing whole boxes/bulky goods in your elevator machine and do not need many storage spaces per shelf.

+ Low cost
+ Furnishings don’t take up space

– Does not prevent goods from moving around
– Unclear subdivision

ESD interior design

Some products need to be stored in so-called ESD-protected areas. ESD stands for Electro Static Discharge and means that the material is sensitive to static electricity that can arise from the friction of different materials. To deal with this, there are therefore ESD-safe solutions, something that most suppliers of shelf interiors know and offer. If you need ESD safe drawers or storage solutions, look no further:

– Sumobox drawers in ESD design.
– Filter boxes
– Plastic trays in ESD design
– Metal interior