Vidir Pan Carousel Case Study: National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Springfield, Virginia
How a federal agency replaced static shelving with a 21-carrier Vidir Pan Carousel and barcode-driven inventory control at NGA Campus East.
Customer
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)
Location
NGA Campus East, 7500 GEOINT Drive, Springfield, VA 22150
Product
Vidir Pan Carousel, Model P1913-21-120-125, 21 carriers
Application
Federal agency small-parts and supply storage with barcode inventory control
About the project
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is the federal agency responsible for geospatial intelligence for the U.S. Department of Defense and the intelligence community. Its eastern headquarters, NGA Campus East, is located at 7500 GEOINT Drive in Springfield, Virginia, in Fairfax County.
It is one of the projects behind our Vidir vertical storage solutions line: powered vertical carousels that store parts, supplies and inventory in the vertical space above a fixed footprint.
Material Handling USA was awarded a federal purchase order to supply and install a vertical carousel — a Vidir Pan Carousel — at the Springfield campus, complete with a touchscreen, barcode scanner and Vidir inventory control software. The award followed a competitive federal solicitation in 2024, and the machine was delivered and installed in early 2025.
This project sits squarely in the work covered by our vertical storage for military and government page: high-value, high-count small items that have to be accounted for item by item, stored in a controlled machine rather than on open shelving anyone can reach.
Project scope at a glance
The situation
Federal supply rooms, tool cribs and parts stores tend to grow the same way: another run of static shelving, another row of bins, another aisle to walk. Every added shelf spreads the same inventory over more floor area, pushes items above and below comfortable reach, and makes a physical count slower and less accurate.
For NGA’s small parts and supplies, a vertical carousel reverses that. Instead of people walking to the inventory, the machine rotates the requested carrier down to an operator standing at a fixed pick window, and the entire store sits inside one enclosed footprint with a single controlled opening. On a federal campus where floor space is fixed and accountability matters, that combination — density plus controlled access plus barcode tracking — is usually what drives the decision.
What Material Handling USA supplied
Material Handling USA supplied and installed one Vidir Pan Carousel, Model P1913-21-120-125: a freestanding vertical carousel with 21 pan carriers on a motorized drive, premium paneling with corners, light curtains and bin detection at the pick opening, and an emergency drill-drive rotation feature so stored items can still be reached if the power is out.
The carousel holds the agency’s small parts and supplies — the high-count, small-item inventory a facility issues day to day — and the pan carriers are the reason this model suits that job. Each carrier is a full-width pan — 119″ of usable width, 19″ deep, 13″ of usable height including the lip — that can be subdivided with intermediate shelves, removable dividers and bin packages (see the carousel accessories and options) so small items travel in fixed, labeled positions instead of loose on a shelf.
Freight, delivery coordination and installation by Vidir’s factory crew were included in the award. Lead time was 16 weeks from receipt of the purchase order, and the unit was anchored to the floor with 5/8″ stud anchors per the manufacturer’s installation specification.
Full product specifications
A pan carousel is a manufactured machine, not a built-to-suit shelving layout, so the specification sheet for this unit is standard published product data — and it is exactly how the machine was sized for this federal supply application.
| Specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Model | P1913-21-120-125 |
| Product type | Pan Carousel (vertical carousel) |
| Overall height | 16′ 2″ |
| Tower width | 12′ 4″ |
| Tower depth | 5′ 5″ |
| Overall footprint | 12′ 8″ W x 6′ 7″ D |
| Overall weight capacity | 39,000 lbs |
| Live load capacity | 35,073 lbs |
| Off-balance capacity | Up to 3,000 lbs (high duty cycle) |
| Carrier type | 1913-1100 pan |
| Total carriers | 21 |
| Max. weight per carrier | 1,100 lbs |
| Useable carrier width | 119″ |
| Useable carrier depth | 19″ |
| Useable carrier height | 13″ (includes 1/4″ lip) |
| Total storage volume | 357 cubic ft |
| Electrical | 208V, 3-phase, 15 amp |
| Controls | Auto-retrieval (ARS), standard ARS system |
| Drive configuration | Variable speed (VFD) |
| Control location | Front control tower |
| Control options | Illuminated E-stop, main power disconnect |
| Max. retrieval speed | 26.5 ft per minute |
| Safety | Light curtains, bin detection, emergency drill-drive rotation |
| Guarding | Premium paneling with corners |
| Anchors | 5/8″ stud anchors |
| Lead time on this project | 16 weeks from purchase order |
The inventory management package
The carousel on this project was not ordered as a bare machine. It was supplied with a 12.1″ industrial touchscreen PC, a USB barcode scanner and Vidir’s inventory control software, so the machine itself knows what is on each carrier.
In practice that means an operator picks or stores an item by scanning a barcode: the software records the transaction, the carousel rotates the right carrier to the pick window, and the count on hand updates without a clipboard. Pick-to-light, additional touchscreens and preventive-maintenance packages are available on the same platform if an agency wants to go further.
For a federal store room, the audit trail is often as valuable as the floor space: every issue and receipt is a logged transaction against a specific carrier position rather than a handwritten note.
What the agency gained
Pan carousel or static shelving?
| Vidir Pan Carousel (used here) | Static shelving and bin racks | |
|---|---|---|
| Floor footprint | One 12’8″ x 6’7″ machine footprint | Spreads across multiple aisles |
| Vertical use | Stores to 16’2″ and still picks at waist height | Limited to safe reach height |
| Retrieval | Powered, product-to-person at 26.5 ft/min | Manual walk-and-search |
| Access control | Enclosed tower, single pick opening | Open shelves, open aisles |
| Inventory accuracy | Barcode scanning tied to carrier positions | Manual counts and paper records |
| Best for | High-count small parts and supplies, fixed floor space | Low SKU counts, bulky items, ample space |
How a federal agency specifies a vertical carousel
Federal vertical-carousel projects are usually specified in three passes. First the agency sizes the store: how many line items, the largest item that has to fit a pan, and the total weight per carrier. Those numbers set carrier count, carrier width and machine height — on this project, 21 carriers at 119″ of usable width with a 1,100 lb per-carrier rating and a 39,000 lb overall rating.
Second comes the building. A pan carousel this size needs ceiling clearance above 16’2″, a door path and staging area to bring the tower in, 208V 3-phase power at the machine, and a level concrete floor — the manufacturer specifies a floor troweled smooth with no more than 1/2″ deviation, typically 6″ thick at 3,500 psi, capable of carrying the column loads. The customer also provides a forklift, a scissor lift and the final power hookup on install day; our vertical storage installation services page covers what that site visit looks like.
Third is procurement. This unit was bought on a federal purchase order following a competitive solicitation, with freight and installation priced as line items alongside the machine and inventory hardware. If you are building an estimate, our vertical storage cost and pricing guide explains what moves the number, and the vertical carousel vs. vertical lift module comparison covers when a VLM is the better fit for tall or highly variable items.
What we publish about federal projects: we name the agency, the campus and the general class of material stored, because the contract award and the campus address are public. We do not publish where the machine sits inside the building, item-level quantities, contract pricing, or any individual’s name.
Frequently asked questions
What is a pan carousel?
How much does a 21-carrier Vidir Pan Carousel hold?
How much floor space does a vertical carousel save?
What electrical service does the machine need?
Can a vertical carousel be tied to inventory software?
What happens if the power goes out?
How long does a vertical carousel take to deliver and install?
Can federal and military agencies buy this equipment on contract?
Planning a vertical carousel for a government or military facility?
Send us your item counts, the largest item you need to store and your ceiling height, and we will size a Vidir Pan Carousel — with the inventory management package, security and installation scope your facility requires.