Narrow-Aisle Racking, Alexandria, Sydney

 

1. Stacking up the Options

CUSTOMER:	Alexandria, Sydney, New South Wales
LOCATION:	Schenker International
BACKGROUND:	Freight forwarder and customs agent, Schenker International, moved to a new premises six years ago and managed without any storage system for the first four years. Two years ago the company decided to have racking installed in stages, to improve access whilst maximising storage capacity for some freight types.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:	A staged implementation of racking was required, as the day-to-day operations needed to continue without disruption.
STORAGE REQUIREMENTS:	Schenker International briefed Storage Ideas’ design team on freight types that needed to be stored in racking, from cartons to heavy machinery in a variety of sizes and weights. Schenker specified certain parameters then left Storage Ideas the task of developing the most appropriate design to meet their current needs, whilst adaptable and flexible enough to satisfy its future relatively unknown requirements.

2. Our Storage Solution

Colby’s heavy-duty range of Selective Pallet Rack was designed to suit a variety of unit weights with more than 700 pallet spaces provided over six levels, reaching to a height of 8.2 metres. Wasted space was kept to a minimum. The use of narrow-aisle reach forklift trucks were also incorporated in the design.

Schenker’s logistics expertise and precise planning ensured disruption to the operation was kept to a minimum during construction.

3. Customer Benefits

The system has increased storage capacity by a huge factor, and has paved the way for a stock control and bar-coding system to be installed in the near future that will increase pick accuracy in a real-time environment.

Narrow-Aisle Racking

The use of Narrow Aisle Racking increases space utilisation by as much as 30% over conventional Selective Racking. The main saving comes from the reduced aisle width necessary to access the storage system.

For pallet-handling, Narrow-Aisle Selective Racking is serviced by either moving mast or pantograph reach trucks, with the width of the aisle generally being at least one metre less than that required for a counterbalanced forklift.

In case-picking applications, it can be serviced by high and low level stockpickers, which can also be rail or wireguided in aisles not much wider than the machine – around 1.5m.