Majestic Wine Warehouse Ltd was able to overcome warehouse floor inadequacies at its new Gift Solutions facility with a pallet racking and dissipation plate solution from The Storage Equipment Centre Ltd (SEC).
There are numerous important factors to consider when a company selects new premises for their warehouse operation. From location to business rates and contractual agreements, one element is often overlooked which can have significant issues on warehouse operations; the suitablility of the warehouse floor, commonly known as the slab.
Majestic Wine Warehouse required a new distribution facility for their gift solutions in order to satisfy the growing business demands for seasonal gifts and products. They located suitable premises within 10 miles of their main distribution centre which met their capacity and operational needs. They approached SEC to design a pallet racking system which could store their wide range of beverages as well as packaging materials. It was during Majestic Wine’s due diligence process that they discovered the warehouse slab was only 10mm thick and would require significant changes to be able to withstand the loads applied through the proposed storage system.
Majestic Wine’s structural engineer originally suggested a channel section dissipation plate to spread the leg load however this would impact on capacity and operations. SEC was confident that by interrogating the storage system design, permissible slab loading and operational requirements that they could provide a solution.
The Solution
SEC firstly assessed the loading of each bay. By reducing each bay to accommodate a single pallet, the leg load was reduced considerably. Although there would be an increase in the number of frames required, it was significantly more cost effective than using a channel dissipation plate or making changes to the warehouse floor. This also ensured Majestic Wine’s pallet capacity requirements could still be met. In consulting with Majestic Wine’s structural engineer it was discovered the single pallet bay solution would still require some form of dissipation plate. The plate, designed to be 150mm wide and 30mm thick would have the pallet racking mounted directly on top and run the entire depth of the bay. A narrow aisle pallet racking base plate was specified so that there was no intrusion into the ground pallet locations or aisle, ensuring optimum operational efficiency. The plates were pre-drilled to enable a timely installation by SEC’s installation teams, having minimal impact on the project programme.
“We had worked successfully with The Storage Equipment Centre Ltd on a previous project and so contacted them when this new project arose. The site was ideal for what we wanted, but it turned out that the floor was not strong enough to support our original racking design. After several meetings with SEC Ltd to discuss possible solutions to the problem of the floor, we were delighted with the innovative solution that SEC Ltd came up with” commented Mark Evans, Logistics Manager.
By working with Majestic Wine Warehouse Ltd and their structural engineer, The Storage Equipment Centre Ltd was able to devise a solution which not only overcome the inadequacies of the warehouse floor but maximised pallet capacity. The single pallet bay and flat bar dissipation plate was a considerably more cost effective solution than making changes to the warehouse floor.
The Storage Equipment Centre
Tel: 0870 241 0872
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