Exceptional sales growth for Karndean Designflooring has seen the need to rapidly increase pallet storage capacity and thanks to a new mezzanine floor solution from SEC Storage this has been achieved at their Evesham warehouse.
Karndean Designflooring has been based at its existing Evesham warehouse since 2008. The purpose built facility has accommodated significant sales growth to date, thanks to its original pallet racking installation which provides capacity for 9,750 pallets. The installation completed by SEC Storage was designed with the future in mind and as a result has needed no adjustments in its seven years of operation.
However, significant sales growth in the last 12 months meant that Karndean was receiving an unprecedented number of inbound deliveries. The need to increase pallet capacity was evidenced by congestion in the existing marshalling and despatch areas. When the storage installation was originally designed, it maximised the cube and as a result it wouldn’t be a simple task of installing additional pallet racking. Furthermore a reconfiguration of racking or aisles would cause significant operational issues, not to mention increase in expenditure for specialist materials handling equipment.
SEC Storage were therefore tasked with providing a solution which would not only increase capacity but have little or no impact on day to day operation. An area of the warehouse highlighted was currently occupied by Karndean’s samples and in-house point of sale board production department. This pivotal marketing function for Karndean would still need to continue as part of the company’s warehouse operation and therefore needed to be relocated.
Further space analysis found that the only area of the warehouse which wasn’t maximising the height was over the forklift battery charging area. However, due to the height of the reach truck mast it was never considered a viable option.
A detailed design process led by SEC Storage’s sales manager Gary Kirk found that a mezzanine floor with uniquely designed column grid would ensure the space above the charging area could be utilised, with no impact on any of the warehouse storage or materials handling operation.
The mezzanine floor is over 4,100 sq/ft in size with a finished floor level of 5,500mm and now accommodates the entire samples department which incorporates all customer and business marketing and product samples, plus in house point of sale board production. The forklift charging area remains unaffected in terms of its capacity and access.
Uniquely, one of the two staircases required for Building Regulation compliance connects to an existing first floor office staircase, so that office and administration staff can easily access and integrate with their samples production team.
The subsequent area made available by relocating this operational function has provided Karndean Designflooring with an additional 1,140 pallet positions boosting total warehouse capacity to nearly 11,000.
“The exceptional sales growth Karndean has experienced is excellent for the business but has put strain on the warehouse operation,” commented Richard Payne, Head of UK & European Logistics.
“It seemed like an impossible task to increase pallet capacity without having a detrimental effect on the warehouse operation, however, thanks to SEC Storage we have been able to do so with a relatively cost effective and time efficient solution.”
At any given time, Karndean Designflooring could increase capacity by a further 300 pallets by utilising the remaining area available following the relocation and installation of the mezzanine floor.
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