Automated Tower Storage for Panels and Sheet Metal Feeding Laser Lines

Panels and sheet metal arrive at a fabrication shop in two forms: as raw stock waiting for a cutting program, and as finished parts waiting for the next operation. Both spend most of their life in storage, and both are handled by hand far more often than they should be. Automated tower storage for panels and sheet metal puts both forms into one vertical system, retrieves them on demand and feeds them straight into the cutting machine.

The tower is only half of the story. The other half is the connection between storage and processing — the shuttle, conveyor, cart and robot hardware that moves a sheet from a tray to a laser bed without manual transport. This article covers the materials a tower can hold, the machines it can feed and how a Herochu cell keeps several lasers busy from one stock point.

One Tower, Many Materials

A single tower stores the full range of flat stock found in a modern sheet metal shop: steel, aluminium, stainless steel, copper, composite panels, timber sheets and plastics. Trays adapt to the material — solid bottoms for lighter panels and film-coated stock, reinforced lattice bottoms for thick plate and bundled material — so the same tower can hold 1.5 mm aluminium sheet and 20 mm steel plate without compromise. Single-sheet weight goes up to 500 kg, and sheets from 3000 × 1500 mm up to 6000 × 2500 mm fit the standard models, with clear space of 350 mm between sheets (customisable) to protect delicate surfaces. For shops that cut a wide material mix, this versatility removes the need for separate storage systems per material family.

From Storage to Machine Bed Without a Forklift

The point where tower systems deliver their greatest production impact is the connection to downstream processing equipment. Shuttle systems and conveyors link the tower’s access bay directly to CNC punch presses, fibre laser cutters and plasma tables. A sheet leaves its tray, travels through the shuttle or conveyor and arrives on the machine bed without a forklift or a person in the path. This creates a continuous material flow that reduces idle machine time and supports unattended or lightly attended production runs. The tower stops being a warehouse and becomes part of the machine’s material supply — the configuration that Herochu engineers around the customer’s actual machine layout.

One Cart, Several Lasers

A Herochu cell scales the concept further with a material cart synchronised to multiple laser cutting machines. The tower holds the stock, the gantry robot loads and unloads, and the cart shuttles between the access bay and each laser in turn. When machine A finishes its batch, the cart is already positioned with the next sheet; when machine B signals for a different gauge, the PLC retrieves the correct tray and the cart carries it over. Multi-device synchronisation means the storage system serves the whole cutting department, not just one machine — the difference between a feeding system and a production centre.

Unattended Runs and the Overnight Shift

With the tower, robot and cart coordinated by one control system, the cell can run the night shift without operators. The day shift loads the tower with the week’s material, the schedule queues the batches, and the system retrieves, feeds, cuts, unloads and returns remnants through the night. Morning arrival means a pallet of finished parts and an inventory record that matches what actually happened. “Lights-out” production is often described as an ambition; on this type of line it is a scheduling mode. The safety interlocks that protect the daytime operators do the same work at 2 a.m., because the machine’s behaviour does not depend on who is watching.

Choosing the Right Model

Selection starts with the sheet size and weight that the shop actually cuts. The four standard Herochu models cover the practical range:

Shops running 3000 × 1500 mm plate for fibre lasers start with the HC-A3015-83; heavy fabrication with 4-metre or 6-metre stock moves to the 4000 or 6000 series with their 5,000 kg rating. Layer counts, clearance, load rating and the number of towers are all customised, and the same tower can be specified to feed a punch press, a laser or a mixed cell. Transfer speed of 5–15 m/min and loading-arm speeds of 10–30 m/min (horizontal) and 5–10 m/min (lifting) define the practical throughput for planning purposes.

What to Prepare Before the Quote

A useful specification starts with five inputs: the floor plan of the cutting department, the position of every machine, the sheet sizes and weights in the material list, the typical batch mix, and the software the shop already runs. With those, the engineers can propose the tower layout, the cart path, the robot travel and the integration points — and flag what the building needs to support it. Automated storage tower systems for sheet metal panels are custom equipment in the truest sense: the standard parts are the tower, the cart and the robot, but the geometry around them is drawn for each customer. Herochu treats the quote as an engineering exercise, not a price list lookup.

Automated tower storage for panels and sheet metal pays for itself in machine hours, floor area and unattended capacity. Herochu supplies the complete cell — tower, gantry robot, material cart and the control logic that synchronises them with your lasers — and the configuration starts from your floor plan and your material list. That is the fastest route from a storage tower to a production centre.