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UNIQUE STORAGE SOLUTION INCREASES PRODUCTIVITY
FOR MASTER AUTO GLASS
Master Auto Glass Ltd is one of the UK’s leading distributors of automotive glass and associated products. With branches nationwide, it is committed to providing its customers with the highest quality of products along with a reliable service.
The company operates from six distribution centres which are located around the country. One of the DCs is the central distribution centre which supplies products to the other five. As part of the company’s expansion plans, a decision was taken to relocate the existing London based central distribution centre into a 60,000 sq ft warehouse in Birmingham.
The challenge for Operations Director Babak Farsian was to source a storage solution to house the 16,000 product lines inside the warehouse. The comprehensive range of products includes 4,500 different types of car windscreen – each a different size and shape and all very fragile and easy to damage.
“For our new distribution centre, we were looking for a unique way to store the glass to minimise our stock losses which were occurring in storage,” said Farsian. “LINPAC Storage Systems was awarded the contract because they were not only competitive in their pricing, they were also the most flexible company to work with in all aspects, regardless of how many changes were made.”
The bulk of the fast moving stock is stored on the floor in an area dedicated to the top selling 60 lines. The rest of the front and rear windscreens are housed in racking on the ground floor, whilst the sideglasses and smaller items are stored on an 8,000 sq ft oversailing, rack supported floor.
The majority of the glass is stacked head on into timber frameworks within the racking. Picking is done by hand using stepladders from the first three levels of crated racks. Above the picking levels there are three further levels dedicated to bulk storage to feed the ones below.
Slower moving lines are also placed head on in the racking on pallet support bars with protective rubber pads. These wide pallet support bars make the racking very versatile, allowing a great variety of different sized screens to be stored.
The old method of storage is still used for the slowest moving stock – screens are stored side facing in the racking and segregated by wooden joists. One row can hold up to 90 locations, but great care has to be taken when placing the glass in and out of storage.
Babak Farsian has been monitoring the success of the new storage solution, he explains, “By storing the screens in the timber frameworks and on the pallet support bars we have dramatically reduced the loss of stock due to damage. It is a unique solution that has enabled us to increase our productivity and we also have sufficient space to accommodate up to 30% more stock to allow for future growth.”
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Do you or your company make products that could enhance our product ranges?
If you are interested in supplying your products to us we would be interested in talking to you to disucss it further.
Please contact our offices or complete the response form on the contact page. |
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