The options available for loading bay solutions vary as much as the businesses using them. Each industry sector has its own particular needs and requirements, which makes choosing the right equipment a critical decision for warehouse managers.
Specifying the correct loading bay technology is vital to ensure operations are optimised at all times. But once it’s in place, it’s equally important to keep loading bay equipment properly maintained. As Phil Clark, Industrial Service Manager at Hörmann UK points out in our feature, regular and adequate servicing of this technology is essential to ensure site safety and overall productivity standards are maintained.
Even when the pressure is on, the need for servicing should never be overlooked.
Manufacturing downtime costs British manufacturers more than £180 billion a year in lost productivity. For warehouses in particular, it’s crucial to a business’ success and bottom line that their loading bays are fully operational at all times.
Looking at the various equipment options, with many UK logistics operations longing to expand their loading bays but pushed for the space, Dock Solutions are continuing to solve customers’ distribution requirements with their costeffective Load Houses.
Also known as load pods or dock houses, Dock Solutions’ load house solutions suit a variety of loading bay applications, allowing internal space to be fully utilised. Dock Solutions’ load houses are stand-alone units, mounted externally to the warehouse and suitable for extending or upgrading existing buildings, as well as inclusion in new build projects. Suitable for all industrial applications, they are particularly recommended for temperature and hygienecontrolled warehouses, distribution centres and storage facilities.
Stertil’s Dock Products range includes industry-specific products such as the WSTP shelter developed for the parcel industry as well as premium products suitable for a wide cross section of industries.
Dock levellers, ramps, shelters and truck safety systems are important all year round but in the summer the doors and curtains in particular need to be thermoefficient, or the warehouse air con will have work extra hard, increasing energy costs. One option is Stertil’s Closed Door Docking system, offering docking without opening doors, contributing to optimal temperature control during loading and unloading.
Finally, another problem for loading bays in the summer is keeping out contaminants from clean areas. Union Industries’ best-selling Bulldoor is helping improve the daily operations of RAVATHERM UK, a leading manufacturer of extruded polystyrene for the building trade, at its Hartlepool warehouse.
Keeping this important material ultra-clean while in storage is critical, hence Union Industries installed the Bulldoor to RAVATHERM’s goods-out area to segregate it from the loading bay and help prevent dirt, dust, insects and other foreign bodies entering the storage area. A further benefit, RAVATHERM’s Bulldoor is operated automatically by radar motion sensors monitoring forklift truck traffic, giving the fast-acting door an automatic open and close capability and reducing exposure time.
CHARLES SMITH
Feature Writer
Comments are closed.