The company did not have to purchase another warehouse.
The warehouse team is no longer physically rotating stock, reducing traffic flow by two-thirds. And, forklift operators who used to spend a good deal of time driving all around the facility are now able to be more productive in their work.
Realised 50% more warehouse space.
Inventory Manager - Columbus Vegetable Oils
Columbus Vegetable Oils processes and packages more than 100 different shortening and oils within its 30,658-square-metre (330,000-square-foot) warehouse in Des Plaines, Illinois.
Unexpected growth significantly strained the warehouse’s capacity and threatened to negatively impact warehouse flow. At that time, the facility did not contain any racking. Product was stacked on pallets, which were placed directly on the floor. A business increased, more pallets were added, which in turn took up more space and increased placement and retrieval times. As space disappeared, it came more difficult to manually rotate product, which slightly increased the risk of oil spoilage.
Crown worked closely with Rack Builders, Inc. and Mallard Manufacturing to create a dynamic storage system comprised of push-back racks for put-away aisles and pallet-flow racks for shipping aisles. The pallet flow racks apply the “first in, first out” principle. When the front pallet is removed, the remaining pallets slide into place. The racks support 127-cm (50-inch) high totes containing up to a ton of product each. With the new racking system in place, Columbus Oils is now able to