12-metre Lean-Lifts installed

First Choice Group is the UK’s leading supplier of spare parts for the commercial catering industry. The new site will provide a building totalling 100,000 sq ft with a three-storey office. First Choice Group will move into its new HQ facility to support future planned capacity growth.

Industore has worked with First Choice Group for over five years. The company operates an impressive automated storage environment at its current site, also in Cannock – see case study video by clicking here. Alongside the new machines, twelve lifts will be transported from the previous site and installed at the new facility.

This new building will allow the company to increase capabilities in the parts automation centre, where in total there will be 20 Hänel Lean-Lifts in operation in the department to support staff in the selection and retrieval of spare parts, consumables, tools and accessories.

These Lean-Lifts will serve as the heart of this automation centre. Orders will automatically be assigned job numbers and identified where they are stored in the Lean-Lifts, via the Pick-to-Light feature, which shines a light on the identified location. When the barcode of the item is scanned, the item will automatically be transported to the access point of the machine for collection, enabling an efficient, error-free order picking operation.

An SQL database will be used to link the system with First Choice Group’s ERP system. The sophisticated software enables simultaneous access from the cluster of lifts, ensuring parts are collected and shipped as quickly as possible to maintain high customer satisfaction levels.

First Choice Group project manager Andy Lawrence says: “The overall solution for our parts distribution centre supplied by Industore has given us a flexible platform from which the business can become more efficient and supply us with a strong system that will grow with us in the future. Because of this, we have been able to offer higher quality levels and a faster service for our clients on a consistent basis, which provides us with a distinct advantage in a competitive market place.

"The overall quality and reliability of the Hänel equipment, and the support and knowledge of the Industore team, have become a core component to our daily business and will remain so for many years to come.”