Case Study: AAP St. Mary's achieves labor reduction, safer operations and improved inventory visibility with Bastian Solutions' AS/RS automation

AAP St. Mary's - Customer Case Study

AAP St. Mary’s, a division of Hitachi Metals and a supplier of 15"–22" wheels to OEMs like Honda and Toyota, needed to streamline and synchronize wheel flow between operations, cut manual handling and employee turnover/training costs, eliminate dangerous forklift traffic, and improve inventory visibility that was tracked on loose paper. To address these challenges, AAP St. Mary’s engaged Bastian Solutions and adopted automated storage/retrieval technology and warehouse software including AS/RS buffers and Bastian’s ExactaWCS/ExactaWMS.

Bastian Solutions implemented 15 aisles of AS/RS buffers (about 15,000 storage locations), 3,700 feet of chain‑driven motorized roller, Cognex/Integro vision systems, custom lifts, and integrated ExactaWCS/ExactaWMS. The solution significantly reduced manual labor and forklift traffic, improved inventory and quality control, and increased system visibility and capacity; as a result AAP St. Mary’s strengthened its competitive position and has asked Bastian Solutions to partner on future growth phases.

AAP St. Mary's