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Two Tier Secure parts Storage
Racal Radio have been based in the Thames valley for over 40 years
and specialise in communications equipment for military, paramilitary
and commercial use all over the world.
A recent restructuring program resulted in the existing stores
based in Reading being moved to Bracknell.
Racal were concerned that reusing their existing three tier shelving
structure at their new premises would result in a loss of capacity
and asked STS Storage Systems to analyse the existing stores operation
and provide proposals.
The existing shelving was designed several years ago and was based
around Racal's product sizes at that time. This resulted in
a three tier pallet racking structure being used as a Longspan shelving
system occupying a ground floor foot print of 308M¦ and giving a
total shelf area of 986M¦. By contrast the available ground
floor area at the new premises in Bracknell was only 266M¦ with
reduced height limiting any structure to only two tiers.
With the introduction of GPS and advances in mobile communication
technology Racal's products have become significantly smaller over
the years resulting in various drawbacks with their existing shelving.
Shelf area's of 1.7M¦ were too large and had gaps around them allowing
stock to fall through and giving very poor segregation. Shelf
heights were also too large so that the volumetric efficiency of
the system was only 40-50%.
STS Storage Systems proposed a two tier shelving system occupying
a ground floor footprint of 266M¦ and giving a shelf area of 1,186M¦.
Because of the adjustable nature of the system the volumetric efficiency
was quoted at 90% which meant an overall increase in stores capacity
of 60% in an area 13% smaller and 33% lower. Shelf area's
of between 0.4 & 0.6M¦ together with solid backs and sides provided
good product segregation which was improved further by the addition
of bin fronts and adjustable shelf dividers.
Shortly after Racal had approved the proposals the shelving layout
was fine tuned to incorporate six secure area's and a goods lift
within the structure. The entire structure was designed 'in house'
by STS with all walkways and marshalling area's being supported
by the ground floor shelving removing the need for unsightly and
expensive additional structural steelwork.
For additional security the entire structure was fully enclosed
with the ground floor shelving accessible only via two entry/exit
points, first floor access was restricted to two purpose made staircases.
To provide protection from possible fork lift damage a barrier was
installed along the exposed side.
Walkways were constructed from large sections 38mm high density
particle board resulting in the minimal amount of tongued and grooved
joints and a bounce free floor capable of taking wheeled traffic.
Particular attention was paid to the colour scheme all uprights,
supports, handrail posts and staircases finished in Graphic Grey
with shelves, panels, mesh and other accessories finished in contrasting
Light Grey. As a finishing touch handrails and kick boards were
finished in Red to match the building support structure.
Layout details and full structural calculations were submitted
to Bracknell Forest Local Authority for their approval. The structure
satisfied the Local Authority engineers and complied with Building
Regulations so that full approval was duly granted.
After completion the structure was handed over to Racal who then
began the task of moving their stock from their existing three tier
at Reading to the new two tier in Bracknell. Racal were delighted
to report that the STS structure easily accommodated the stock held
at Reading and gave substantial additional capacity. This
enabled other stock held at third party premises to be incorporated
into the Bracknell facility resulting in unexpected cost and logistic
savings.
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