Grant UK – Warehouse and Storage Solutions

Background

Founded in 1978 Grant UK has been at the forefront of designing and manufacturing heating products. Grant UK established an HQ in Salisbury before moving to Devizes in 2003. Over the next 20 years, Grant UK continued to grow and needed larger premises.

The Challenge

The site in Devizes consisted of several units dotted around the estate, creating logistical complications, difficult-to-locate stock locations and a lack of storage to cater for the ever-expanding product range. Due to the nature of the business some of the products were large and awkward to store.

What they needed was a single UK headquarters to house the office and warehouse operation under one roof. Having scoured the market they found an 80,000 sq ft facility in Swindon. The unit needed a complete refurbishment to the existing offices, reception area and warehouse. STS worked with Kerr Office Group to look after the warehouse and storage aspects of the business.

With Kerr concentrating on the construction and fit-out, STS was asked to review the storage and logistical areas of the business. Grant had a large portfolio of products ranging from very large items to very small items. The business needed to maximise the footprint of the double warehouse so needed a Very Narrow Aisle (VNA) solution. 

The Solution

STS adopted a whiteboard approach to look at all aspects of the warehouse and logistical issues faced by Grant. A team of key people were set up to add valuable input and a design and layout were successfully devised that would increase pick efficiency and maximise the storage potential of the building at the same time.

The need to store large ‘ugly’ products alongside the more average-sized products, whilst using as little aisle space in the bulk facility was needed, as well as having a dedicated hand-pick area to safely access smaller products.  

STS surveyed the two warehouses and drew up the design using narrow aisles in the pallet racking rack area, housing the ’uglies’  on the perimeter and allowing for a more generous aisle space to access. The smaller hand-pick items were situated in one part of the warehouse using the maximum height possible.

Pick and dispatch (P&Ds) were used to ensure the VNA trucks worked efficiently in the aisles allowing the Reach Trucks to offload and load to the dispatch and consolidation areas.

An electrically operated order picker was suggested in the handpick area to utilise the height and allow easy, safe and fast picking up to 5m high using a rail-guided system for speed and safety.

How we did It!