Edward HutchisonAfter moving to a new facility in Iver, contract packing specialist Flexpac needed to devise a new materials handling operation.
For many of its larger customers, the company works in batches using items supplied in multiple palletised loads. As Flexpac aims to hold stock for as short a time as possible, its main requirement from a storage and handling perspective was to ensure enough items could be held on site to maintain throughput and meet delivery schedules.
Atlet proposed a combination of single and double deep racking, creating 756 pallet locations on four levels arranged along three aisles. The first aisle is completely double deep, the central aisle has double deep racking down one side and single down the other, and the third aisle is single deep only.
Duplicate bulk loads are generally stored in the double deep areas, while individual pallets and items that need to be accessed more frequently are kept in the single deep sections. Going completely double deep would have created more space, but the company chose to retain some single deep racking and to widen the aisle to provide better flexibility and help optimise throughput during peak periods.
Andrew Holmes of Flexpac says: “If you’re dealing with lots of different products you wouldn’t necessarily go for double deep but many of our pallets are the same so this combination works well.”
To access the double deep racking, Flexpac selected Atlet’s stand-on ATF extending fork reach truck.
