40_SHD_May.qxd:ShD re-design 1/5/07 09:41 Page 40
■ Fork Lift Truck Attachments
You’ve been framed!
In order to satisfy a customer’s specific picking needs,
Atlet designed a special frame attachment for its order
picking truck.
A combination of very narrow aisle the full length and height of the warehouse is
racking, high density picking bins and used with the overall result that 12,000 bins
specially adapted man-rising order picking are arranged on between 13 and 15 levels,
trucks from Atlet has enabled Country depending on the position of the racking
Balloons to maximise the storage capacity beneath the sloping roof.
while retaining complete flexibility at its The choice and configuration of the lift
new distribution warehouse in North trucks was critical to the success of the overall
London. Atlet supplied two of its OPS man- operation. Country Balloons' design
rising order pickers with special frames to consultants suggested a shortlist which
hold eight cartons and allow up to four included Atlet as a potential supplier. Atlet
different orders to be picked at a time with recommended the OPS order picker and
each truck. Laurence Connolly visited a number of
“This warehouse was designed for reference sites to see similar trucks in
maximum efficiency with dense storage and operation, try them out and discuss them with
high performance order picking,” says existing users.
Laurence Connolly, distribution director at “Other customers were very complimentary
Country Balloons. “A lot of effort went into about Atlet which counted for a lot,” says
the overall concept and Atlet provided a really Laurence Connolly. “Matt Prentice, our Atlet provide complete flexibility in the warehouse.
effective solution to our requirement.” salesman, was excellent and his enthusiasm The top shelf of the frame can hold up to two
Country Balloons supplies products to eight demonstrated great confidence in the empty picking bins so that they can be
major retail outlets throughout the UK. It had product.” returned to goods inwards for refilling. Empty
previously shared warehousing facilities with Country Balloons was keen to ensure the picking bins are identified with a simple card
another part of the owner's business but order pickers spent as much time as possible marker so that they can be retrieved for
sustained growth placed pressure on the on productive tasks. Atlet devised and refilling.
operation. The company decided to build a manufactured a special frame which can be “Lots of effort went into coming up with
new warehouse to provide additional overall mounted on the order picker's forks to support this concept and Atlet's approach was
capacity and allow it to separate the up to 10 picking cartons on three stepped exemplified by the way they worked on
operations of the two parts of the business. levels. The lower and middle levels each hold getting the design of the frames right for us,”
The new site was chosen because of its four cartons, the front two of which can be says Laurence Connolly. “Attention to detail
proximity to the existing operation but the accessed during picking because of the made all the difference and Atlet even sourced
company could only justify the premium price stepped layout. When these are full, the large rubber bands which we use to hold the
and make it cost effective by planning for the operator can unlock the middle section of the lid flaps of the cartons open to provide clear
maximum possible storage density to frame and slide it backwards to reveal the two access during picking.”
accommodate up to 300,000 items. rear cartons at the lower level so that they can The warehouse opened in late spring 2006
“It was clear that what we needed was high be swapped with those at the front without and was fully operational by the summer. It is
density storage and to go as high as possible,” leaving the picking position. The frame is configured so that goods inwards and order
says Laurence Connolly. then slid back and locked into place before assembly and despatch areas take up the
The design of the warehouse is geared work continues. In this way, up to eight minimum possible space to provide the
towards maximum storage density with cartons can be filled before the truck has to maximum room for the high density storage.
complete picking flexibility and selectivity. leave the aisle, reducing the amount of time Stock arrives in boxes from suppliers and is
There are seven very narrow aisles with a spent travelling between picking and order transferred to picking bins which are then
transit aisle and overhead/bridge racking at assembly areas. handled to any empty storage locations using
one end. All items are stored in plastic bins The design of the frame also allows each the OPS order pickers. The warehouse
and the racking supports and beams have been truck to pick orders for up to four stores at a operates with zone picking managed by a
spaced to ensure that there is no wasted space time, enabling the trucks to work in tandem to WMS in conjunction with RF-based scanning.
in either the horizontal or vertical. In this way pick orders for all outlets simultaneously and www.atlet.co.uk
40 ShD May 2007 www.PressOnShD.com
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