Vidir Wire Carousel Case Study: ABL Space Systems, El Segundo, California
How a launch vehicle manufacturer moved its wire and cable spools into a motorized eight-carrier Vidir Wire Carousel — then expanded it.
Customer
ABL Space Systems
Location
225 Oregon Street, El Segundo, CA 90245 (Los Angeles County)
Product
Vidir Wire Carousel, Model W45163-0840-06, 8 carriers / 24 wire bays
Application
Wire and cable spool storage and payout in aerospace manufacturing
About the project
ABL Space Systems is a launch vehicle manufacturer headquartered at 225 Oregon Street in El Segundo, California, in the Los Angeles County aerospace corridor. Building rockets means building harnesses, and harness work means dozens of wire and cable types on spools that have to be stored, found and paid out cleanly on a production floor where floor space is the scarcest resource in the building.
Material Handling USA supplied and installed one Vidir Wire Carousel — a motorized vertical carousel with wire-bay carriers, Model W45163-0840-06 — at the El Segundo facility in 2021, with a hanger meter slider and a wire loading dolly ordered alongside the machine. In spring 2022 the same customer came back for additional spinner spool hardware to add capacity to the machine already installed.
The project is one of the installations behind our vertical storage for aerospace and aviation page and part of the Vidir vertical storage line. The repeat order is the part worth noticing: an expansion order eight months after commissioning is the clearest evidence a machine earned its footprint.
Project scope at a glance
The situation
Wire storage on a manufacturing floor usually starts informally: spools on a shelf, spools on a floor rack, spools still in the carton they arrived in. It works until the harness build list grows. Then the same problems appear everywhere — nobody can see what gauge and type is actually on hand, partial spools get buried behind full ones, and pulling a length means wrestling a heavy spool off a shelf and finding something to spin it on.
For an aerospace manufacturer the cost is not only time. Kinked or dragged cable is scrap, and a mis-picked wire type in a harness is a rework item on a flight article. Storage that keeps each spool identified, upright, spinning freely and measurable at the point of use is part of build quality, not just housekeeping.
A wire carousel addresses all of it in one machine: every spool sits on its own rod in a labeled bay, the carrier the operator asks for rotates down to a fixed opening, and the wire pays out from the bay instead of being lifted out of it.
What Material Handling USA supplied
Material Handling USA supplied and installed one Vidir Wire Carousel, Model W45163-0840-06: a freestanding powered carousel 14’5″ high, 8’9″ wide and 7’3″ deep, with eight W45 wire-bay carriers, a 2″ wire mesh front, corrugated sheet metal back and a front control tower.
Each carrier is divided into three wire bays — 24 bays in total — measuring 26.25″ wide by 32.5″ high, and spools mount on wire bay rods: sixteen 0.75″ standard-duty rods and thirty-two 1″ heavy-duty rods came with the machine, so bay layout can be re-cut as the wire list changes. Maximum spool diameter is 30″, each carrier carries up to 1,000 lbs, and the machine is rated at 13,000 lbs overall.
Controls are deliberately simple: forward/reverse push-button rotation with a mushroom E-stop, main power disconnect and a security keypad at the front control tower, on a fixed-speed drive that moves carriers at up to 21 feet per minute. The keypad matters on a production floor — the tower is enclosed, so wire inventory is not open to the whole shop.
Two accessories were ordered with the machine. A hanger meter slider lets an operator measure wire as it is drawn off the spool at the opening rather than pulling a rough length and measuring it on the floor. A wire loading dolly handles the other end of the job: lifting a full spool up to bay height safely. Both are cataloged on our vertical carousel accessories and options page.
Full product specifications
Below is the published product specification for the machine installed at El Segundo. A carousel is a manufactured product, so these are the numbers used to confirm it would fit the bay, clear the ceiling and carry the spool weights.
| Specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Model | W45163-0840-06 |
| Product type | Wire Carousel (vertical carousel) |
| Overall height | 14′ 5″ |
| Overall width | 8′ 9″ |
| Overall depth | 7′ 3″ |
| Overall weight capacity | 13,000 lbs |
| Live load capacity | 12,220 lbs |
| Off-balance capacity | Up to 1,950 lbs |
| Carrier type | W45 wire bay |
| Total carriers | 8 |
| Total wire bays | 24 |
| Wire bay dimensions | 26.25″ W x 32.5″ H |
| Maximum spool diameter | 30″ |
| Maximum weight per carrier | 1,000 lbs |
| Standard-duty wire bay rods | (16) 0.75″ rods |
| Heavy-duty wire bay rods | (32) 1″ rods |
| Electrical | 208V, 3-phase, 15 amp |
| Controls | Forward/reverse push button, front control tower |
| Drive configuration | Fixed speed |
| Control options | Mushroom E-stop, main power disconnect, security keypad |
| Max. retrieval speed | 21 ft per minute |
| Guarding | Uprights, 2″ wire mesh front, corrugated sheet metal back |
| Foot plate dimensions | 10.5″ D x 6″ W x 0.375″ H |
| Concrete anchors | 5/8″ HILTI KB-TZ stud anchor |
| Options supplied on this project | Hanger meter slider, wire loading dolly |
The 2022 expansion
Eight months after the carousel went into service, ABL Space Systems ordered additional spinner spool assemblies for the same machine — three of them, shipped in spring 2022 to the company’s El Segundo campus.
A spinner spool is a rotating spool assembly that mounts in a wire bay so cable pays out smoothly under tension instead of dragging over a fixed rod. Adding them is how a wire carousel grows with a build program: the machine, the drive and the footprint stay exactly as installed, and only the bay hardware changes to match the wire types now moving fastest.
That is the pattern we see across wire carousel installations. The first order sizes the machine to the shop’s footprint and ceiling; later orders re-tool the bays. It is also why we log the exact model and bay configuration on every install — an expansion order has to match the machine already on the floor.
What the manufacturer gained
Wire carousel or static spool rack?
| Vidir Wire Carousel (used here) | Static wire spool rack | |
|---|---|---|
| Floor footprint | One 8’9″ x 7’3″ footprint | Runs along a wall plus clear working aisle |
| Vertical use | Stores to 14’5″ and picks at one opening | Limited to safe manual reach |
| Bay count | 24 bays at 26.25″ x 32.5″ | As many positions as wall length allows |
| Spool handling | Spools stay on rods; dolly lifts them in | Manual lift on and off the rack |
| Payout | Meter slider measures at the opening | Measure by hand after pulling |
| Access control | Enclosed, keypad on the control tower | Open rack |
| Best for | Growing wire lists in a tight production space | A handful of spools and low turnover |
Our wire spool carousel vs. wire reel rack comparison covers the economics, and the vertical carousel vs. traditional storage page applies the same logic to parts and supplies.
How to specify a wire carousel
Start with the wire, not the machine. List every spool type you stock, the largest spool diameter and width, and the weight of a full spool. Those numbers set the bay size, the rod diameter and the carrier rating — here, 26.25″ x 32.5″ bays, spools to 30″ diameter, 1,000 lbs per carrier and a mix of 0.75″ and 1″ rods.
Then check the building: clear height above 14’5″, a level concrete floor that will take 5/8″ stud anchors and the machine’s column loads, a path to bring tower sections in, and 208V three-phase 15 amp power at the machine. Installation is a factory crew job and the site provides lift equipment and the final electrical hookup — our installation services page lists the full site checklist.
Finally, decide the payout hardware up front if you can. Meter sliders, spinner spools, loading dollies, reel dispensers and wire carts all mount to the same machine, but retro-fitting them later is a second freight bill. If your inventory is drums rather than spools, an open-carrier machine may fit better — see the cable drum carousel installation we did for an electrical wholesaler and our electrical supply and wire distribution page. For taller or highly variable loads, compare with the vertical lift module, and for budget ranges start with the vertical storage cost and pricing guide. Machine details and options for this platform live on the Vidir Wire Carousel page.
Frequently asked questions
What is a wire carousel?
How many spools does this machine hold?
Can wire be measured as it comes off the spool?
What is a spinner spool?
What power does a wire carousel need?
How is the machine secured to the floor?
Do you supply vertical carousels to aerospace manufacturers?
Running out of room for wire spools on your production floor?
Send us your spool list — largest diameter, spool widths and full-spool weights — plus your clear ceiling height, and we will size a Vidir Wire Carousel with the bay layout, payout hardware and installation scope your build needs.