TPi September 2015

business & market news

Automated warehouse at core of new distribution centre

have to move when picking, speeding the consolidation of orders. The warehouse design also increases the height used for storage of Pipe Center’s stock keeping units. The Kasto control interfaces with the Measham centre’s HighJump warehouse management system, which offers tracking and traceability of inventory, further maximising efficiency.

Pipe Center has opened a new distribution centre in Measham, Derbyshire, UK, the newest and most technologically advanced distribution operation in the supply chain of parent company Wolseley UK. The 142,000ft 2 facility has given Pipe Center the ability to provide next-day delivery across its entire network, and has created more than 50 new jobs. At its heart is a bespoke, 3,332-location KASTOunicompact 4.0 automated warehouse, built in Germany and supplied through Kasto Ltd. The cassette-type tube storage system provides dynamic goods-to-man presentation for efficient picking, which reduces the amount of manual handling required. The warehouse structure, which required the installation of 182 drive piles to provide deep foundations, has boosted storage capacity by 20 per cent compared with the previous operation, which relied on storage of long stock using a mixture of cantilever racking and bulk stacking. There was also a separate section for small parts and an area for pallet storage.

A view of the KASTOunicompact 4.0 automated warehouse for pipe and other materials at the Measham distribution centre

The resulting optimised storage and picking

Some locations are not filled due to the presence of building columns.

coupled with improved stock management allows an even broader range of products to be stored and delivered to the branch network. The portfolio includes Bondloc, Geberit, Ideal Stelrad, Spirax Sarco and Marla Tube Fittings. The 3,332 cassettes, each 7m long, are arranged in 78 blocks horizontally and 22 rows vertically to a height of 12m on both sides of a central area, along which a picking crane travels on rails.

The crane travels with two cassettes, weighing up to 4,150kg each, between the store locations and three input/out- put stations, extracting and/or returning material at up to 160m/min longi- tudinally and 40m/min vertically. These motions are performed simultaneously for maximum productivity, while cassette pulling and return speed is up to 80m/min. Andy Wighton, managing director of Pipe Center, and Climate Center, commented, “We have created one of the most dynamic and advanced distribution centres in the industry that will help us achieve customer service excellence. Measham DC is ideally placed geographically and fits with our supply chain strategy to operate as efficiently as possible. It optimises our distribution capability for Pipe Center and Climate Center so we can offer our customers next-day delivery, and accommodates our exciting growth ambitions for the next ten to 15 years.”

The Kasto system has reduced the distance warehouse operatives

One of the input/output stations serving the KASTOunicompact warehouse

Pipe Center – UK www.pipecenter.co.uk

Kasto Ltd – UK sales@kasto.uk.com www.kasto.uk.com

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Tube Products International September 2015

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