Linpac Storage Systems has completed a bespoke storage solution combining wide and narrow aisle racking and a mezzanine structure for the power tools and accessories division of Techtronic Industries UK. The company’s new Didcot distribution centre supplies Ryobi, AEG, Homelite and Milwaukee power tools to customers throughout the UK and Ireland.
Techtronic outgrew its original warehouse in Droitwich, which was unsuitable for racking, and relocated to a 156,000 sq ft facility in Didcot. With an eaves height of 12m, this building required a racking solution to store 20,000 plus pallets.
Up to 500 pallets a day arrive at the distribution centre from Techtronic Industries’ Far East manufacturing centres. These pallets of power tool products and accessories are stored inside the distribution centre on Linpac wide aisle and narrow aisle racking. To make it easy for the operatives to distinguish between the two types of racking, the wide aisle has been supplied with grey uprights and orange beams, while the narrow aisle has blue uprights with orange beams.
Cantilever pick and deposit stations have been erected at the end of the narrow aisle racking runs, facilitating the efficient handling of pallets into and out of the system. All of the beams have a two tonne weight capacity.
An area in the warehouse has been left free of racking to house the bulky products that are too large to fit into the storage solution.
Techtronic’s operations director David Napper says: “Racking out the Didcot distribution centre has maximised our storage and picking capacity while reducing the risk of product damage.”
