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Randex launches new version of vertical storage system

Posted on by David Priestman

Leading vertical storage lift company Randex is launching a new version of its ‘Compact’ system, built using its industry-benchmark automated vertical storage technology.

New features of this latest system include a modern, updated HMI (human-machine interface) touchscreen that is highly intuitive and user friendly according to early feedback from Randex users. The touchscreen offers varying levels of user access, and can be seamlessly integrated into company operations, early users report.

In response to market demand Randex has also introduced a new four-metre-wide, modular tray option: this can be used to increase storage more flexibly, says Randex, which expects it to be popular with manufacturing and logistics companies.

The new system will be launched publicly on the Randex stands at the March 2022 ‘IntraLogisteX’ and April 2022 ‘MACH’ shows.

Compact vertical storage lifts save up to 90% of floor space compared to standard shelving and pallet racking say Randex. They can manage loads of up to 100 tonnes and allow warehouse operatives to complete up to four times more picks than in a conventional warehouse environment, with goods automatically presented to the picker.

Compact vertical storage lifts can now be integrated with over 20 leading enterprise systems including IBM Maximo, SAP, JDA, Red Prairie and Blue Yonder.

Randex Ltd is the sole UK distributor for Compact Vertical Storage Lifts, manufactured in Sweden by Weland Solutions, a member of the privately-owned global group Weland AB. Randex customers include Bombardier, DHL, Fujifilm, Howdens, Hutchison Ports, Jaguar Land Rover, Ministry of Defence, P&G, Pfizer, Rolls Royce and Specsavers.

Compact Vertical Storage Lifts are suitable for many types of organisation and can support a wide variety of inventory management and stock handling processes.

Key to its best-in-class functionality, Compact Lift is driven by cog wheels that run in homogeneous gear racks (rack and pinion) – this provides very stable movement and precise positioning of the loaded trays.

The Compact Twin is the equivalent to the standard Compact Vertical Lift carousel, but with double the loading capacity. It saves time by handling two load trays in one sequence, keeping one tray in a picking position and the other in a waiting position. This doubles the picking rate of a single vertical carousel system.

The Compact Double features double load trays, providing even greater storage abilities per square metre. This makes it ideal for smaller warehouses, where space is limited.

Mobile control: Compact Vertical Storage lifts can be controlled via mobile devices, with a personalised interface for the operator, rather than by a computer. The warehouse operative launches the order directly from their mobile phone or tablet and sees only their order on screen. This approach saves a great deal of aisle walking time and also reduces picking errors.

The Compact Heavy solution stores heavy components with the same efficiency as a regular vertical storage lift. It has been developed to handle a load of 1.5 tonnes – the heaviest capacity in its class. It is part of Randex’ effort to develop solutions that allow a greater percentage of industrial companies’ inventory to be managed using vertical storage lift technology.

 

GKN chooses AR Racking for Spanish plant

Posted on by Keith McKinley

GKN Ayra Servicio, belonging to the global leader in propulsion systems GKN Automotive, has chosen the storage systems specialist AR Racking as the industrial racking supplier for the warehouse at its plant in Carcastillo (Navarre, Spain).

With its headquarters in Birmingham (England), the multinational GKN has made a strategic investment in its factory in Navarre to become a leading plant in spare parts for automotive transmission systems in Europe, and to triple its sales in the short term. GKN therefore turned to AR Racking to install industrial racking to achieve a logistics operation that would maximise warehouse efficiency.

AR Racking has installed a combination of several storage systems adapted to the different volumes and rotation of products that GKN works with at the Carcastillo plant.

The pallet load will be stored on very narrow aisle (VNA) racking, with a storage capacity of up to 5,696 pallets. This system is an adaptation of the adjustable pallet racking system, but compacted by the narrowing of the work aisles, which creates a high-density storage system that helps to increase the warehouse capacity but without expanding the space.

For the manual storage of GKN’s smaller spare parts and for their handling using picking solutions, AR Racking has installed 2164.5 linear metres of longspan shelving. It is very versatile racking that adapts to all types of unit loads and that facilitates access to products stored directly and immediately. In addition, for long and higher volume loads, AR Racking has implemented a solution with cantilever racking that covers a total of 166.5 linear metres. It is a system that offers excellent goods handling mobility.

AR Racking has also installed a mezzanine floor on two levels for a light shelving warehouse. The mezzanine floor covers a total of 1,809 sq m and is a storage solution that helps increase useful area at height.

“AR Racking’s storage systems meet the strictest European quality standards. What’s more, equipping the warehouse just as we had planned proved to be an agile and smooth process”, stated Pablo Hernando, GKN Project Manager.

For Xabier Rica, AR Racking Sales Representative and project manager, “we are convinced that GKN will be able to achieve greater competitiveness with the industrial racking installed and therefore improve its logistics operations”.

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Wine packaging company increases on-site storage capacity

Posted on by David Priestman

When it comes to impressive statistics and numbers, The Park is not short of these. The multi-award-winning manufacturing and blending plant in Avonmouth employs almost 400 people and produces 25 million 9-litre case equivalents of wine each year. The site is home to its 80,000 sq m wine warehouse and distribution centre, the largest of its kind in Europe; with six packaging lines it has the capacity to produce 1,200 bottles of wine every minute.

Even a company at the top of its game is not immune to certain external factors, of which there have been plenty in the last year or so. Recent problems with the supply chain and shipping also coincided with The Park enjoying a period of steady growth. This prompted the management to look at ways of increasing on-site storage for containers and ISO Tanks which are shipped mainly from Australia and New Zealand, but also from Chile, the USA and South Africa.

Integral to the optimum use of available space are two Combi-SC straddle carrier models from the Irish manufacturer Combilift, well known for devising innovative solutions for handling loads of all shapes, weights and dimensions. Freight Manager Bob Prescott and his team started evaluating various options in mid-2020 and concluded that the telescopic capabilities of the Combi-SCs would enable containers to be stored much closer together as well as double stacked for maximum density.

“The container handling equipment we have used for years can only lift one load at a time and their manoeuvrability is very limited,” said Prescott, “whereas the three-wheel Combi-SC can turn on its axis and access much tighter spaces.”

The own weight and axle loading of the Combi-SC models is much lighter than other types of heavy handling equipment such as reach trucks, enabling them to work on less than perfect ground conditions. Some concreting and general surface improvements were carried out in the yard, however, mainly to determine and mark out areas that could bear the weight of double-stacked containers. The potential for storing containers or ISO Tanks, each containing around 24,000 litres of wine, has now expanded from 166 bays to 250, representing a massive increase in capacity with no requirement to purchase or lease extra space.

Each Combi-SC that is built in the factory in Monaghan is tailor-made to customer specifications, and The Park’s 35t capacity telescopic double stacking models feature a fixed fully automatic attachment to handle 20ft ISO Tanks and containers, which can also lift 40ft containers via chains if required. Weighing systems with an accuracy of +/-2% were also fitted, as were 129° cameras front and rear to ensure when the load is raised the driver has 360° visibility from the cab

When wine is required for production the Combi-SCs take the containers to special offloading bays where they have a gradient of approx. 5 degrees so using gravity and pump assistance, contents can be transferred to holding tanks before the bottling process begins.

Richard Lloyd, General Manager, European Operations and Supply Chain comments: “The addition of the Combi-SC straddle carrier has enabled us to react to a dramatic decline in global shipping reliability and double our storage capability of wine, importantly within the same footprint. This change in capability is transformational for the site in meeting its customer demand on time.”

 

SEC Storage partners with vertical farming specialist

Posted on by David Priestman

SEC Storage has partnered with a leading UK Vertical Farming specialist CambridgeHOK for the launch of a new ‘concept to completion’ package, providing investors and retailers with their own fully automated indoor growing facilities.

Supply chain issues caused by Brexit and a global pandemic combined with a growing population, estimated by the Office of National Statistics to be 72 million by 2041 in the UK alone, has directed the spotlight on alternative methods for more local, sustainable food production.

Already a proven technology in many environments, Vertical Farms have demonstrated that they can produce high-quality, low-emission, competitively priced food in a fraction of the space of a traditional farm.

However for Vertical Farming to be successful and a sustainable source of food production in the UK, it’s vital to demonstrate how automation and the efficient use of space can streamline operations and SEC Storage’s data-driven approach combined with its innovative machine learning and AI capabilities are well matched to the next phase of the Vertical Farming industry development.

SEC Storage managing director Harry Watts commented: “Working with Vertical Farming specialist CambridgeHOK to apply the principles of logistics industry automation alongside our unique data-driven actuation models, provides a compelling offering to investors, food producers and retailers, and clearly demonstrates that investment in this growing sector is a viable and attractive option.”

Patrick Harte, joint managing director of CambridgeHOK said: “Automation and scalability are the two key factors behind our concept model which align perfectly with SEC Storage’s expertise in space optimisation and as an automated warehousing specialist.

“Together we can develop and deliver large-scale Vertical Farming solutions that could deliver higher quality crops, on an industrial scale, in a fraction of the footprint when compared with traditional methods.”

AR Racking optimises Gear4music’s warehouse

Posted on by Keith McKinley

The logistics centre of the sixth and latest European facility of Gear4music, a leading online retailer in the sale of musical instruments and accessories from the United Kingdom, has been designed and equipped with an AR Racking storage solution with a capacity for 60,000 items.

With a continuous multichannel approach, the UK’s largest musical instruments retailer has been selling its range of items across Europe since 2012 and in 190 countries since 2017. Since its foundation in 2003, the company has increased its turnover tenfold to around €185m last year. To serve growing markets in Europe and maintain a local presence, the company is represented by six subsidiaries and distribution centres in Europe. The latest centre opened just recently in Barcelona, where AR Racking has played a defining role in designing, manufacturing and installing the ideal storage system for optimisation of the new warehouse.

“The sales director Jörg Buschmann and his AR Racking team were able to tackle all the logistics challenges that our new warehouse posed, despite our tight schedule, with the promise of a short turnaround and competitive prices,” said Jan Imig, Gear4Music Germany and Spain Managing Director, explaining the contract award. “The initial preliminary planning and concept of fully equipping the facilities with proven and certified components from AR Racking’s product portfolio were convincing.”

In the two months following the contract award, AR Racking implemented its adapted storage solution precisely to the shipping warehouse requirements of Gear4music, including the picking and packaging areas. To achieve optimum use of the space and high availability, AR Racking designed and installed a solution with very narrow aisle (VNA) racking. A total of 3,600 pallet positions have been created on 15 racking aisles.

The galvanised frames are up to 9.5m high and have 16 levels. The beams are designed for pallets of up to 250kg each. Some of the levels have been designed for picking solutions, generating 1,800 positions and are equipped with mesh racks. The U and L-shaped frame protectors provide protection for maximum safety and to avoid damage to the support frames. The aisle width is 1.75m, generating a higher storage capacity with the same space compared to the adjustable pallet racking system.

For shipping, the items are transferred to the picking and packaging area. Depending on the order specifications, this is where the items are consolidated, packaged and goods are prepared for shipment, if necessary. “AR Racking’s team did a great job in every phase of the project,” commented Imig. “Constructive communication process and fast direct contacts, including in the follow-up. Changes to and deviations from the original plans were agreed based on AR Racking’s experience and were quickly applied. The team fulfilled our high expectations and has strengthened the effectiveness of our dispatch centre in Barcelona. Finally, and with everything going smoothly, the facilities were up and running as scheduled by mid-September. We were and we are very satisfied with all of AR Racking’s services.”

 

 

Seismic-resistant racking for Peruvian warehouse

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Productos Sancela del Perú S.A., a company belonging to Grupo Familia and a leader in care and hygiene products, is responding to market growth with the expansion of its warehouse at Punta Hermosa (Peru), where AR Racking installed adjustable pallet racking.

The storage systems specialist AR Racking equipped the 1,200 sq m warehouse extension with an adjustable pallet racking system which has created 1,200 new pallet positions that will allow Productos Sancela to improve its growing operations. The company, leader in feminine hygiene and senior and elderly care products, has since 2018 been part of the Grupo Familia, one of the most important business corporations in its sector in South America and the Caribbean.

The adjustable pallet racking designed and installed by AR Racking will provide direct and immediate access to goods, enabling fast stock rotation that will allow Productos Sancela to more quickly meet the strong increase in demand that it is experiencing.

“AR Racking’s personal advice and attention in finding the right solution has been extraordinary. With this installation we have gained in agility, efficiency and immediate performance,” explained engineer Jaime Mondragón Iriarte, Operations Manager of Productos Sancela del Perú S.A.

Also, AR Racking’s galvanised products show excellent performance in extreme environmental conditions, a key factor in the project for Productos Sancela, given the location of its warehouse very close to the sea.

“The project observed seismic factors indicated in international standards and in Peru’s National Building Standards (RNE),” added Freddy Taboada, AR Racking Sales Consultant in Peru, who also pointed out that “communication with the customer was very smooth and direct from the start, helping to ensure the successful implementation of the project”.

Based in Lima and with a finished product warehouse, AR Racking Peru has established itself as a partner of reference to meet the most demanding needs for the design and installation of industrial loading storage solutions.

CLICK HERE to watch the video

 

AR Racking appoints new MD

Posted on by Keith McKinley

The current Sales Director for conventional solutions in the EMEA markets, José Manuel Lucio, has been appointed as the new Managing Director of AR Racking, replacing Iñaki Arriola, who will sever his association with the company at the end of 2022.

Lucio joined AR Racking approximately seven years ago and has held several management positions. These include, during 2021, Sales Director for the EMEA region for conventional solutions unit. Until the beginning of this year, he successfully held the position of Sales Director for Spain, Portugal and Italy.

After a steady upward rise, Lucio became Managing Director of AR Racking on 1st January 2022 replacing at the head of the company Iñaki Arriola, who will support company management until ending all ties with the company at the end of 2022.

In the last few years, AR Racking has experienced sustained growth and positioned itself as one of the leading players both nationally and internationally in the industrial storage solutions sector.

Randex announces enhanced integration

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Vertical storage lift company Randex has revealed the latest integration of its ‘Compact’ automated storage technology with an ERP system – the IFS, or Industrial and Financial System.

‘Compact’ can now be integrated with over 20 established enterprise systems including IBM Maximo, SAP, JDA, Red Prairie and Blue Yonder.

“Integrating these two core technologies optimises picking and replenishment, including pick to light, setting the industry standard. Users can achieve this using their existing IT environment,” says Randex director James Roberts. Organisations report productivity improvements of up to 400% following a successful integration using its simple API, says Randex.

‘Compact’ vertical storage lifts save up to 90% of floor space compared to standard shelving and pallet racking. They can manage loads of up to 100 tonnes and enable warehouse operatives to complete up to four times more picks than in a traditional warehouse, with goods automatically presented to the picker.

Randex Ltd is the sole UK distributor for Compact Vertical Storage Lifts, manufactured in Sweden by Weland Solutions, a member of the privately owned, global group Weland AB. Randex customers include Bombardier, DHL, Fujifilm, Howdens, Hutchison Ports, Jaguar Land Rover, Ministry of Defence, P&G, Pfizer, Rolls Royce and Specsavers.

Whittan celebrates trusted storage brands

Posted on by David Priestman

“Trust defines brands and is earned, not bought” is a headline from the Edelman Trust Barometer special report issued during the pandemic, where respondents said that trust is second only to price when purchasing a new brand.

For Whittan, a leading UK storage manufacturer celebrating 70 years as a trusted supplier of storage products and solutions, these findings reinforce its customer insights. Whittan research over the years has consistently shown that trust and an established reputation affect both purchase decisions and marketing efficiency.

Whittan says it is a pacesetter in storage products and solutions. Many of its well-known storage brands have been around for decades, earning the trust of their customers and a reputation as a leading UK manufacturer and supplier. Whittan pioneered the first pallet racking system using a bolted rather than welded frame. It has industry-wide recognition of its manufacturing standards, locally and internationally.

Its storage products and solutions can be found supporting leading industry and household brands, businesses and organisations across sectors and industries, spanning the length and breadth of the UK. Many of its brands – such as Link51, Apex and Polypal UK – are ubiquitous in their markets, maintaining a reputation that is unparalleled in their sectors.

The brands have been refreshed over time and the products have kept pace with the demand and adaptation of storage and space. Throughout, Whittan have says it has remained true to its mission to provide quality products and solutions to the storage and logistics industry.

Whittan is best known for its wide range of lockers, shelving and adjustable pallet racking solutions which it supplies for a multitude of applications and specifications. From creating the space to house 13.5 million litres of Macallan single malt, storing defence equipment on board a Royal Navy submarine, protecting Stella McCartney’s couture archives, to providing secure storage lockers for offices, schools and gyms – they are present in warehouses, retail, stores, offices and organisations across industries and sectors.

As Whittan celebrates seven decades of expanding storage capabilities and maximising opportunities with Link51, it brings an outstanding range of trusted storage brands. These include Link51 and Apex, providing the design, manufacture and installation of racking and shelving products; HiStore, for mezzanine floors; market-leading display and storage solutions for retail sectors from Polypal UK and an extensive range of lockers and workplace products from Probe and Link Lockers. Storage Direct, the online retail destination for UK-manufactured storage products and solutions, stocks products for warehouse, industrial, office, retail and home environments.

However, the trust in Whittan does not rest solely on the reputation of its heritage storage brands. It also stems from its commitment to quality local manufacturing, sustainability and a move towards net-zero. All Whittan products are manufactured locally in the UK. It has an extensive UK-wide network where experts are on-hand to help with queries and handle simple to full turnkey environmentally-efficient installations. This means that they are never far away from installation sites, eliminating delays and disruptions to timelines while cutting down on carbon emissions.

In 2021, Whittan launched a group-wide rebrand, consolidating all its storage brands, products and solutions within one unified approach to provide extended capabilities in storage.

Stephen Pickering, Whittan Group Head of Marketing, explained the rebrand: “Our customers are at the heart of everything we do. It’s important to us that the trust we have earned over the decades is not lost. All our brands embody our values of integrity, accountability and honesty. By consolidating our brands, we have strengthened our innovative solutions, heritage and reputation.

“70 years on, we continue to build on our trusted reputation in the tradition first established at Link51’s original location at Brierley Hill, in the heart of England’s industrial Black Country. Across Whittan, we are committed to bringing the power of storage to help businesses large and small and make space work harder by providing the most innovative, flexible and future-proof storage solution possible.”

Not so hard to handle

Posted on by Keith McKinley

No matter how difficult a product is to store and pick, improvement can always be found, says Edward Hutchison, Managing Director of BITO Storage Systems.

Some items are more difficult to pick than others. Often these items are stored the way they always have been. But that is never an excuse not to investigate how storage efficiency and picking productivity can be improved. Many operations that have straightforward pallets and cases also deal in irregular shapes and outsizes that present their own challenges. Some operations deal only in items that are difficult to store and, more particularly, difficult to pick.

Picking individual or multiple sheet material from racking is a good example. One recent application involved installing a roller-tracked location solution that combines standard BITO components and specially designed parts in a ‘letter-box’ style rack (pictured), where sheets can be picked either individually or in a collection. The racking allows multiple sheets to sit in a location that has sufficient clearance to allow air to be blown in via a hose to raise a delicate, thin single sheet to allow it to be picked individually.

Garment and apparel is a fast growing ecommerce sector requiring a mix of solutions, from hanging garment conveyors to shoe box storage and shelving for folded garments. The latter, while not presenting an obviously awkward storage challenge, can often create a problem where polythene covered individual garments easily slip out of a shelf. BITO created an essentially simple solution to this issue with modules of shelving designed to fit neatly between two uprights on the ground level of a racking structure. The shelves have a divider with a vertical return at the pick face to create a retained location that can hold a pile of individual, polythene wrapped garments securely, preventing them from sliding around during picking, while providing a gap that is wide enough to make an easy pick.

Providing locations for large and outside pallets and goods, which many facilities block stack on floors, is another route to improved storage and picking. Handling can be made easier by adding a bottom rail in the rack to lift the larger pallets off the floor and creating a rack location with a higher first beam level will make it easy to store and pick bulky, outsized items.

Sometimes odd shaped items are stored in stillages that, being heavy themselves, are often block stacked on floors. Placing stillages in a racking system however gives better utilisation of the total space and also allows use of the full height of the warehouse. A system comprising racking designed with a rail on each side of the uprights, running from front to back, will allow lift truck drivers to place a stillage in a fashion similar to a single-deep drive-in rack. This is a far more space efficient solution than using beams to rest stillages on, as is done in a traditional pallet-style rack.

More and more unusually sized items are being moved from the warehouse floor into racking, where they are better protected and can be more easily located, picked and handled. Even 6-tonne gas turbine engines can be racked, as demonstrated by an award-winning project that included an impressive three-level high gas turbine engine rack, providing 72 locations, served by a wire-guided side loader. This was created from a bespoke BITO design, using standard beams and uprights, enables engines weighing up to 6-tonnes, and stored on 1-tonne pallets to be located on the first beam level as well as ground level. The top-level locations can hold up to 4-tonnes. In this instance, the client had never previously racked engines, and it was also the heaviest pallet that BITO has ever stored.

If you think your product is too difficult to store in a better way, think again. With the right expertise, experience, and access to a broad range of storage systems and state of the art techniques, there will always be a way to improve your operation.

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