Vidir Wire Carousel Case Study: Honeywell Aerospace, Phoenix, Arizona
How a Honeywell jet engine facility organized wire and cable spool storage for its maintenance stores with a compact, keypad-secured motorized wire carousel.
Customer
Honeywell (Engines Systems & Services)
Location
3131 E Airlane Drive, Phoenix, Arizona 85034 (Sky Harbor area)
Product
Vidir Wire Carousel — compact wire-bay platform
Application
Wire and cable spool storage for aerospace engine maintenance stores
About the project
Honeywell’s Engines Systems & Services operation at 3131 E Airlane Drive in Phoenix, Arizona builds and supports jet engines for commercial and military aircraft. Sites like this run a parallel maintenance and repair stores operation alongside the production floor, and wire and cable on spools — used across engine harnessing, test-stand wiring and general maintenance — is one of the more awkward things a stores department has to keep organized: many gauges and insulation types, all bought and stocked on spools.
Material Handling USA supplied Honeywell’s Phoenix facility with a Vidir Wire Carousel — a motorized vertical carousel whose carriers are enclosed wire bays — through Nationwide Shelving, our reseller of record on this order. It is the same compact wire-carousel platform we have supplied to other aerospace and defense manufacturing customers; see our project for BAE Systems in York, Pennsylvania. This project sits behind our vertical storage for aerospace and aviation page and is part of the Vidir vertical storage line.
What we publish about this project
Two disclosure notes apply here. First, this is an aerospace manufacturing site, so as with our other defense and aerospace projects we publish only the customer, the publicly listed facility address, the general class of material stored, and manufacturer specifications — never the building or room the equipment sits in, purchase order or contract numbers, quantities or values, or the names of anyone involved.
Second, and specific to this page: our own project archive for this order does not include the signed equipment quote that would confirm the exact model, carrier count and bay dimensions Honeywell received — only the purchase order referencing it. The specification table below is Vidir’s published data for the W39089-0534-06, the compact wire-carousel model at the same scope and price point we have supplied to comparable aerospace and defense manufacturing customers. Treat it as representative of the platform and price class, not as a confirmed reproduction of Honeywell’s bill of materials. We would rather say that plainly than guess.
Project scope at a glance
The situation
Wire in an aerospace maintenance stores operation is stocked against unpredictable demand, not consumed on a schedule. A technician needs a short length of one gauge for a harness repair today and a different gauge tomorrow, so partial spools accumulate and sit for months. On open shelving, those partial spools get buried behind full ones, counts drift, and a spool nobody can find gets re-ordered instead of used.
Handling compounds the problem. Pulling wire off a spool sitting flat on a shelf usually means lifting it down, improvising something to spin it on, and hoping the wire does not kink in the process — on precision aerospace wiring that is not a cosmetic risk.
A wire carousel addresses both problems in one machine: each spool sits on its own rod in a labeled bay, the requested carrier rotates to a single fixed opening at working height, and an enclosed, keypad-controlled tower keeps wire stock inside the machine rather than open to the stores floor.
What Material Handling USA supplied
Material Handling USA, through Nationwide Shelving, supplied Honeywell’s Phoenix engines facility with a Vidir Wire Carousel: a freestanding, motorized vertical carousel with enclosed wire-bay carriers, a mesh front, a solid back and a front control tower carrying the drive controls and security keypad.
The compact wire-carousel platform Vidir builds for this class of project — the W39089-0534-06 shown in the specifications below — is a five-carrier, fifteen-bay machine roughly 8 feet tall on an 8’9" by 5’9" footprint, built for spools up to 24" in diameter. Where the exact carrier count Honeywell received is not confirmed in our records, this is the model and configuration we would expect at this order’s scope, and it illustrates the specifications a buyer should expect from the platform.
Payout hardware — meter sliders, spinner spools, loading dollies and reel dispensers — mounts to the same platform and is cataloged on our vertical carousel accessories and options page.
Platform specifications
The table below is Vidir’s published specification for the W39089-0534-06 compact wire carousel — the model and price tier consistent with this project, shown here as platform reference rather than a confirmed bill of materials for Honeywell’s specific order (see the disclosure above).
| Specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Model (representative) | W39089-0534-06 |
| Product type | Wire Carousel (vertical carousel) |
| Overall height | 7′ 11″ |
| Overall width | 8′ 9″ |
| Overall depth | 5′ 9″ |
| Rated machine capacity | 5,000 lbs (per Vidir drawing 2-95382) |
| Carrier type | W39 wire bay |
| Total carriers | 5 |
| Total wire bays | 15 |
| Wire bay dimensions | 26.25″ W x 26.5″ H |
| Maximum spool diameter | 24″ (24″ maximum spool width) |
| Maximum weight per carrier | 1,000 lbs |
| Standard-duty wire bay rods | (10) 0.75″ rods |
| Heavy-duty wire bay rods | (17) 1″ rods |
| Drive system | (2) 1.5 HP motors |
| Electrical | 208V, 3-phase, 15 amp (isolated circuit) |
| Controls | Forward/reverse push button, front control tower |
| 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 |
| Concrete anchors | 5/8″ HILTI KB-TZ stud anchor |
| Finish | VM White Textured (300-1106), machine and carriers |
Site and installation requirements
Vidir’s terms of sale set out what a receiving plant has to have ready for this platform, and the list is a useful planning checklist for any aerospace maintenance stores area considering the same machine:
- Power at the machine. 208V, three-phase, 15 amp, ideally on an isolated circuit, with building wiring and final connection provided by the site.
- A forklift and a scissor lift. The customer provides both for unloading and erection unless other arrangements are made in writing.
- A level, troweled slab. Flat within 1/2", at least 6" thick, 3,500 psi or better, able to carry the machine load under its foot plates.
- Clear access and footprint. An unobstructed route for the sections and an install area cleared of racking and material.
- Anchoring. The machine bolts down with 5/8" HILTI KB-TZ stud anchors through its foot plates.
Our vertical storage installation services page carries the full site checklist.
What the plant gained
Wire carousel or static spool rack?
| Vidir Wire Carousel (this platform) | Static wire spool rack | |
|---|---|---|
| Floor footprint | One compact footprint (approx. 8’9″ x 5’9″) | Runs along a wall plus a clear working aisle |
| Bay count | Up to 15 bays at 26.25″ x 26.5″ | As many positions as wall length allows |
| Spool handling | Spools stay on rods inside the machine | Manual lift on and off the rack |
| Retrieval | Carrier rotates to one opening at working height | Walk the rack, reach or climb |
| Wrong-part risk | One spool per labeled bay | Spools stored two and three deep |
| Access control | Enclosed mesh, keypad on the control tower | Open rack |
| Best for | A varied wire list in a stores or MRO setting | A handful of spools and low turnover |
The vertical carousel vs. traditional storage page applies the same comparison to parts and supplies, and our tool crib, die and mold storage page covers the other consumables a stores area usually wants behind a keypad.
How to specify a wire carousel for an aerospace stores area
Start with the wire, not the machine. List every spool type stocked, 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.
Then check the building. The compact W39 platform fits under a stores-height ceiling around 8 feet; the same platform is built taller, at roughly 12 to 19 feet, and Vidir’s larger W45 bay machines run 14 to 21 feet when spools exceed 24" in diameter. Confirm clear height, a level slab that will take 5/8" stud anchors, an unobstructed route to bring sections in, and 208V three-phase 15 amp power at the machine.
Compare other aerospace and defense installations: ABL Space Systems in El Segundo, California and BAE Systems in York, Pennsylvania. On the manufacturing side, see VC999 Packaging Systems and Lin Engineering. For taller or highly variable loads compare a vertical lift module, and for budget ranges start with the vertical storage cost and pricing guide.
Frequently asked questions
What is a wire carousel?
What Vidir model did Honeywell’s Phoenix facility receive?
Does a wire carousel make sense in an aerospace maintenance stores area?
How much floor space does this platform use?
What does the site have to provide for installation?
Can wire inventory be locked down?
Do you supply storage equipment to aerospace and defense manufacturers?
What do you publish about defense and aerospace projects?
Wire spools spreading across your maintenance stores shelving?
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 stores operation needs.