Linpac reaches new heights with MDA

Rt. Hon Jack Straw, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and MP for Blackburn, recently opened MDA's Cardwell Mill warehouse. This 3.7 million cubic metre facility represents an investment of some £5m for the company. The new warehouse, which is a sign of the company's increasing success, incorporates a 15.2m high Very Narrow Aisle (VNA) storage solution from LINPAC Storage Systems.

Located in Blackburn, MDA is the UK's leading fulfilment specialist, sourcing and distributing varied promotional materials to large national networks of retail and leisure outlets.

It was the remit of Dale Stokes, MDA's Commercial Director, to select a storage supplier for Phase II of the warehouse. From a competitive tender, he chose LINPAC Storage Systems to design, manufacture and install a VNA solution. He commented, “We were looking for a storage partner who could match our high standards of quality and service – LINPAC fitted the bill; it's a professional company with quality products manufactured here in Britain.”

He continued, “Their innovative design for our storage solution meant that we could fit in an extra level of VNA racking. This has considerably increased the capacity of Phase II of the warehouse, an important factor which has resulted in an extremely cost effective storage solution.”

The VNA racking installed at MDA is one of the highest in the country with a top beam level of 15.2 metres. This gives a storage height of 12 pallets with three pallets per bay. To assist the sprinkler installation, the racking has been constructed in single sided runs.

Sacrificial legs (a replaceable section at the bottom of each upright where damage is most likely to occur) have been incorporated into the uprights at the front of each run. If the rack does need to be repaired both downtime and costs are reduced as the section to be replaced is minimal.

“In winning this contract we underlined our ability to design bespoke storage solutions for the benefit of our customers,” commented Tim Judge, Sales and Marketing Director of LINPAC Storage Systems. “The VNA racking in Phase II of MDA's warehouse maximises warehouse capacity because it is not only higher than normal; it also has an additional level of storage from the original specification.”