A leading European bottle manufacturer and beverages company enlisted the help of a leading Management Consultancy to expand its site that is operationally constrained to improve operational throughput and drive future efficiencies. LPC supported the study by determining the optimum solution at one of its principal manufacturing sites.
The challenges were that the site was physically and operationally constricted, resulting in site congestion and inability to service peak seasonality and health and safety concerns through mixed traffic and pedestrian routes.
A number of options were considered addressing storage capacity, receiving and dispatch constraints, materials flow around the site and staging areas.
Overhead site constraints prevented the existing high bay automated warehouse from being extended. The solution would require a standalone automated warehouse being built on the same site with a covered conveyor link between the two buildings across a roadway turntable to enable the roadway to still be used when required.
The new facility would provide a mix of high bay and low bay storage serviced by cranes with additional value-added services on a mezzanine over the raw material receiving bays and despatch bays.
The master planning of the site had to consider the efficient and safe routing of cars, transfer of inbound bulk sand and cullet from a railhead on the periphery of the site, inbound dry goods, inbound bulk liquids, pallets, tankers and tippers and inter transfer between each automated warehouse.
The resultant scheme addressed the health and safety issue with traffic by reinstating and upgrading a roadway for cars and segregating them from goods vehicle at point of entry to the site. Goods vehicle management and flow was managed by developing a new gatehouse and holding yard and segregating inbound and outbound flows once processed through the gatehouse. To further negate congestion on the site, ancillary working areas such as the General Service Stores building were relocated to further mitigate cross flow.
In additional to the operational master planning benefits, environmental benefits delivered a 20% saving in total miles travelled, reduction in the number of vehicles required for onsite movements and also incorporating sustainable design initiatives.
