The UK's leading pallet racking equipment manufacturer, Link 51, has now completed a large scale installation at the new TDG distribution facility at Trafford Park in Manchester which is dedicated to storage and distribution for Kellogg's. The newly opened 310,000 sq. ft. premises, located less than a mile from the major Kellogg's manufacturing plant in the area, is designed to handle high levels of product throughput whilst providing a significant level of flexibility, with opportunities to extend storage capacity in the future built in.
The three phase racking installation programme now completed provides capacity for the location of some 500 SCU's loaded onto up to 58,000 pallets. While the majority of this is held in double-deep, bulk storage aisles, Link 51 has also installed dedicated cart system push back racking at selected lower levels to provide a picking facility. This sees individual pallets loaded onto a wheel-mounted platform or cart which is then pushed backwards to expose a second loading area underneath. When the front pallet is then removed, the rear cart rolls gently forward under gravity to the front of the racking.
"This combination of palletised and individually selected items meets Kellogg's distribution requirement to an extensive list of major multiple outlets both in the UK and Ireland," says Glyn Jones, TDG's Project Implementation Manager.
"The configuration of the racking design has been central to the installation because it needed to meet Kellogg's own specific dimensional requirements," he continues. "Because of the relatively low product weights involved, typically 500 kgs, a Kellogg's storage unit comprises two stacked pallets, shrink wrapped into a single item and positioned in pairs in each bay. The resultant dimensions had to be accommodated by the spacing between beam levels while the design also incorporates further clearance above each load to provide the versatility to reconfigure the storage profile if required in the future."
Apart from finished cereal products, the facility has also been designed to accommodate raw foods. This sees bagged products such as apple sauce held in bulk bags of up to one tonne in weight stored ahead of call-off back into the factory for production purposes. The entire facility is based around 3.3 metre wide aisles utilising Link 51's XL racking, all of which is fully accessible by TDG's fleet of reach trucks.
"With some 50 containers arriving and departing each day through no less than 28 docks gates, this is a highly intensive activity and one which is clearly geared to both throughput and shelf life considerations," comments Link 51's Major Accounts Manager, Nigel Harris.
"The installation had to meet very tight time considerations so that the operation could come on stream as soon as possible. This also called for close co-operation between ourselves and other key suppliers such as the manufacturer of the in-rack sprinkler system, and, indeed, we were able to complete the installation ahead of schedule," adds Nigel Harris.
"The combination of bulk storage and picking facilities together with the use of both double-deep and push back installations demonstrates the versatility of our equipment, we believe, particularly as capacity for future growth and the introduction of new product ranges is also designed in," he continues.
"We are delighted to have been involved in such a prestigious project for such a major and well-established name in its industry. We are confident that the storage design will make a major contribution to the distribution efficiency required by both TDG and Kellogg's at the site," concludes Nigel Harris.