Herochu: Precision-Built Customized Automated Sheet Metal Storage Systems, Delivered Turn-Key from 39 000 USD
When every square metre of your workshop earns money, idle floor space is lost profit. Herochu eliminates that waste by lifting your sheet-metal inventory into the third dimension. Our customized automated sheet metal storage systems compress up to 300 t of plates into a footprint barely larger than a family car, yet retrieve any sheet in under sixty seconds. From 3015 mm to 6025 mm, from 3 t to 5 t per level, every tower is engineered for your exact material flow and CE-, EU- and ISO 9001–certified before it leaves our plant. Starting at 39 000 USD, the return-on-investment clock begins the moment the first coil is loaded.
- Why workshops choose Herochu
Centralised, three-dimensional storage keeps aluminium, mild steel, stainless, copper and composites in one protected environment. Moisture, forklift impacts and undocumented handling disappear. A PLC-controlled gripper measures the weight of every incoming plate, records the alloy, thickness and remaining stock, then parks the sheet in the optimal slot. When the nesting software requests material, the tower delivers the precise sheet to the in-feed conveyor or directly to the laser, punch or shear—no operator search time, no overtime, no secondary sorting. Customers typically reclaim 30 % of shop-floor area and cut internal transport by 45 % within the first quarter. - Built for 24/7 sheet metal workflows
Mainframe: welded Q235B carbon steel, CO₂-shielded, stress-relieved and magnetic-particle inspected.
Travel wheels and drive shafts: precision-turned 45 # steel, blackened and oil-quenched for 25 000 h MTBF.
Linear guide rails plus hardened chain drive deliver 9 m/min lift speed and 12 m/min in/out feed without vibration, even at 5 t per shelf.
Overload-tested to 125 % of rated capacity; full-load cycle test recorded and shipped with the machine. - Two loading philosophies, zero bottlenecks
Forklift mode: open cassettes accept standard stillages; optional hydraulic alignment table centres the load to ±2 mm.
Overhead-crane mode: magnetic or vacuum beam deposits single sheets or full packs through the roof hatch, ideal for 4 m × 2 m plates that exceed forklift dimensions.
Switch between modes from the 12-inch colour touchscreen in under thirty seconds. - Intelligence you can see
The Siemens S7-1200 PLC talks natively with MES, ERP and nesting software via OPC-UA. Real-time dashboard shows current tonnage, remaining slots, next-out date and maintenance counters. If a chain elongates beyond 1 % or a motor draws 15 % over nominal, the system texts your maintenance chief and schedules a Saturday window before a fault can interrupt Monday shift. Remote VPN access allows Herochu engineers to upload parameter updates or new pallet profiles without entering your facility. - Safety that satisfies insurers, unions and CEOs
Category-3 safety circuit, dual-channel door switches, 24 V DC operation on all sensors, and laser-area scanner that slows then stops all motion if a person enters the footprint. Fire-suppression nozzles in every cell can be tied to your central CO₂ or water-mist network. Full compliance with EN 13155, EN 349 and EN ISO 13849-1. - Pre-sales: solution before quotation
Our six certified engineers use SolidWorks and Simsolid to model your exact stock mix, turn-over frequency and building constraints. We simulate the tower inside your workshop, animate the forklift paths and calculate ROI down to the kilowatt-hour. A 3-D PDF and discrete-event simulation video arrive with every proposal so you can present the investment to your board with confidence. - After-sales: 1-1-4 promise, worldwide
15-hour response, 1-hour temporary fix, 4-hour corrective-action plan. We keep critical spares—motors, chain links, encoder kits—on every continent. Cloud log files let us diagnose 92 % of anomalies without a plane ticket. When a flight is necessary, our engineer carries the parts and departs only after the tower has cycled 100 error-free operations. - Optional modules that future-proof the investment
- Automatic film or paper interleaving station for surface-sensitive materials
- Bar-code or RFID write-head that marries plate ID to the PLC record
- Second out-feed port for parallel laser lines
- Climate-control package: 40 % relative humidity, 18 °C, for aluminium and prepainted stock
- LED pick-to-light system for manual remnant return, eliminating keyboard data entry
- Specifications at a glance
Model range: 3015 / 4015 / 4020 / 6015 / 6020 / 6025 mm
Shelf count: 8 – 13 (expandable in pairs)
Nominal load per shelf: 3 t or 5 t
Total capacity: 24 t – 65 t per tower
Vertical speed: 9 m/min
In-out speed: 12 m/min
Positioning accuracy: ±1 mm
Footprint (base frame): 3.2 m × 1.9 m for 4015 model
Electrical supply: 400 V 50 Hz / 480 V 60 Hz, 7 kW average, 15 kW peak
Noise level: < 68 dB(A) at 1 m - Financial justification that finance directors respect
Assume 2 500 t of sheet moves through your shop each year. By eliminating double handling, reducing scrap caused by rust or dents and recovering 400 m² of floor space, Herochu customers report annual savings between 90 000 USD and 140 000 USD. Even at the entry price of 39 000 USD, payback is typically 8–11 months. Lease and hire-purchase plans are available through Siemens Financial Services, allowing you to treat the tower as an operating expense while it immediately improves cash flow. - Sustainability that wins audits
Energy consumption per retrieval cycle is 0.11 kWh—less than a 3-minute weld. High-density storage reduces building expansion, cutting embodied carbon by up to 40 kg CO₂ per square metre saved. All steel is sourced from Youfa and Zhongtong mills that operate electric-arc furnaces with 85 % scrap input. Packaging is plywood-free; frames travel on reusable steel stillages that we collect on the next visit. - Next step: turn inventory into a competitive edge
Send us your stock list, building plan and weekly throughput. Within 48 hours you will receive a customised tower layout, cycle-time analysis and firm quotation. Whether you run a 50-employee job shop or a Tier-1 automotive stamping plant, Herochu has a certified, fully supported automated sheet metal storage system ready to lift your material—and your margins—off the floor.
Herochu—store it higher, fetch it faster, profit sooner.
