The UK's leading racking and storage specialist Link 51 has completed a further installation for the DHL organisation in Doncaster. The latest facility, which builds on a number of Link 51 racking projects already in operation for the company in the area, is centred on the Harworth site that is dedicated to distribution of household cleaning products for Reckitt Benckiser.
A total of 54,000 pallet positions have been created in the new warehouse facility spread across twenty-four 120 metre long aisles. Up to nine beam levels are available – making full use of the apex roof line – in a layout which utilises the Link 51 XL racking system in both a standard and VNA configuration. The vast majority follows a back-to-back layout but where single depth racking is used, Link 51 has also installed anti-collapse mesh at the rear of each bay as an additional safety measure.
"The very narrow aisle areas allow us to maximise the cube storage capacity and are accessed via a series of wire-guided man-up order pickers," comments DHL Support Services Manager, Paul Riley. "The wide aisle areas, where both reach trucks and powered pallet trucks operate, are ideal for both individual picking operations and to provide for a degree of growth in capacity in the future.
"In-bound pallets are either located directly into the bulk racking area via a series of pick and drop locations at the end of each racking level or are broken down for storage in the very narrow aisle picking locations. From here, individual batch loads can be assembled for delivery either to the customer's own distribution centres or direct to stores."
Of the Link 51 pallet positions now available, some 10,000 are located within a dedicated caged area. This is set aside for the storage of aerosol containers where a number of appropriate safety measures have been taken. "These include in-rack sprinklers at every level, additional sprinklers on the face of each beam as well as a series of steel baffles designed to deflect heat rapidly to the nearest sprinkler sensor," continues Paul Riley. The work has called for direct liaison between Link 51 and the sprinkler system suppliers to ensure that the overall racking design met these precise requirements.
"We believe this is an excellent demonstration of our ability and willingness to work with all the concerned parties to ensure that the customer's needs are fully met," comments Major Accounts Manager at Link 51, Chris Patey-Round. "The result is a facility which not only meets DHL's immediate and varied requirements but also provides a significant ability to develop the site further in the future.
"We believe that DHL's decision to appoint us again for this latest project in the area reflects favourably on the suitability of our equipment and our installation expertise," he concludes.
Link 51 is the UK's leading storage equipment manufacturer and is part of Whittan Storage Systems – the UK based, pan-European, storage-focused manufacturing group. Other group companies include Link Lockers, Moresecure, N C Brown, Polypal and Permar.
Whittan Storage Systems group supplies products and services across the Continent and indeed, further afield, with sales of some £130 million and a workforce of over 1000. Through manufacturing facilities in four countries and sales operations in six, all Whittan Storage Systems' customers benefit from its commitment to its core business.