Nedis UK, the distributor of consumer electronics for the domestic brown and white goods servicing trade has consolidated its stock holding from two small warehouses on the same industrial estate in Melton Mowbray into a single warehouse.
Due to market changes in buying patterns and maintenance of electronic goods, Nedis UK’s core business model evolved to include the supply of accessories as well as component spares. This in turn created a change in stock holding and an opportunity to rationalise and consolidate on warehouse requirements.
The company, which was formerly known as SEME, appointed Raxel Storage Systems to review operations and present proposals to consolidate the stock holding into one warehouse.
It decided to close the unit containing its small part storage, picking and packing operation, transferring and consolidating this within the larger unit that was being used for office and bulk storage.
In order to achieve this goal, Nedis UK had to re-evaluate and reduce its stock holding levels in both operations.
At the same time, Raxel was required to maximise on available space in order to create suitable storage areas for bulk stock holding, plus a small parts store involving a shelving system that offered the facility for fast, efficient order picking, transfer, packing and dispatch.
The height of the building was used to create additional flooring by removing two single runs of pallet racking in order to install a new mezzanine floor.
On the upper floor level new shelving was installed and for economy, existing shelving was located below at ground level, along with a proposed packing area to offer marshalling and archive storage.
At both ends of the floor, Raxel installed single pallet gates into the mezzanine guard rails to enable bulk stock to be deposited for pick replenishment in store.
In order to safely and efficiently transfer stock picked from the mezzanine floor down to ground floor for further picking and packing, Raxel installed a goods lift that had been specially adapted to take the trolleys that had been supplied as part on the project.
The upper lift entrance was strategically located at the packing end of the mezzanine floor, so that completed trolley loads could be safely lowered down to the ground floor to fulfil any second pick.
Trolleys are placed in a designated area for orders to be packaged for dispatch and empty trolleys are returned to the first floor to be stored for re-use.
Andrew Thorpe, finance manager at Nedis UK said: “[Raxel] suggested various racking solutions and costs for us to evaluate before choosing the current solution. From then on, they managed the work from start to finish, ensuring it was completed to their high standards. The project was completed successfully and the operation is now fully transferred.”
