General Motors France’s major new distribution centre has been fitted out with a range of racking and storage systems from Link 51. The 325,000 sq ft site, located on the outskirts of Paris, distributes spare parts for the private vehicle and van after-sales market across the country.
The storage systems work in conjunction with the warehouse management system to meet various requirements, notably a combination of bulk storage and picking locations, within a layout that reflects fast, medium and slow-moving product lines.
Keith Evans, sales director at Link 51, says: “The warehouse is split into five equal ‘cells’, each divided by a central access aisle. 90 per cent of the picking activities take place to one side of the central divide with the majority of the remainder used for multi-level bulk storage. A carton live system has been installed in part of the picking area while two-tier Euro-shelving in one of the cells provides a large number of picking locations for very small parts.”
Because of the diversity of part numbers and sizes, both bulk storage and picking location configurations have been built into the design including, (for the latter) 1.6m-deep bins. The bulk locations can accommodate either pallets or stillages of various sizes on six levels of racking. A drive-in racking facility, featuring 11 lanes each four levels high which can accommodate a depth of six pallets, has also been provided and is mainly dedicated to the location of slower moving items.
