Sportswear wholesaler revamps storage
FOCUS INTERNATIONAL is Part of the JD Group and has a substantial warehouse facility located close to the M25 motorway in St Albans, Hertfordshire.
With consistent growth driving increased throughput at St Albans, Focus needed additional storage space and more pick faces. The company’s existing storage system was based on traditional narrow aisle pallet racking, but this was no longer delivering the capacity nor the order picking flexibility that Focus required.
Following a comprehensive site survey, in-depth data analysis and system modelling, Focus opted to introduce a multi-tier picking structure that incorporates both static and dynamic carton flow storage. The design of the storage solution not only delivers the flexibility that Focus sought, but has also increased overall storage capacity at the St Albans facility by in the region of 40%.
Focus International’s St Albans site is now served by Flexi Truck articulated warehouse truck technology manufactured by Narrow Aisle, based in Tipton, West Midlands.
Incoming ISO shipping containers arrive and are de-stuffed with goods transferred through the loading bays, where they are assigned a position within the unit’s bulk store by Focus’s WMS. They are collected before being delivered to the correct pallet location and put-away by the Flexi Trucks. The Flexi Trucks are also used to pick and transfer replenishment stock to the extensive new pick area which is located adjacent to the bulk store within the existing building. The Flexi can carry out all these materials handling processes across the facility, which means each truck is highly utilised during the whole working day.
The Flexi Trucks deployed at Focus International’s St Albans warehouse feature digital electric motor technology that allows all independent drive, hydraulic and power-steering motor functions to be controlled digitally. The technology ensures productive and safe performance throughout the working day and, for each pallet moved, electric charging costs are 20% less than competing systems.
Narrow Aisle managing director John Maguire says: “The digital independent steering system at the heart of the latest Flexi Truck models deliver much lower battery energy consumption and higher productivity combined with significantly reduced maintenance costs. Its VNA space saving aisle functionality and ability to work both inside the aisles and outside around the building, makes the Flexi concept the ideal choice for Focus’s site.”
For more information, visit www.flexi.com
