Warwick fabrics are one of the world’s leading fabric and textile wholesalers, providing premium quality materials to industry specialists since 1966.
With showrooms in Australia, United Kingdom and New Zealand, they are at the forefront of fabric design and distribution.
Safer Storage Systems have a long term relationship with Warwick Fabrics, designing layouts to improve their storage systems and work flow areas.
The Storage Requirements
Warwick Fabrics had outgrown their existing site and recognised a number of issues that were impacting on the day-to-day running of the business, including accessibility to the site, storage capacity and operational limitations.
Safer Storage Systems helped Warwick Fabrics find the right facility based on a thorough understanding of their business requirements.
To assist them with their decision making, we provided alternate storage layouts and pricing so they could see what the storage capacity and costs were going to be prior to committing to a warehouse. This helped them to decide which new site to acquire.
Storage Considerations
Warwick fabrics required a custom storage solution to store large rolls of fabric that were 1.6-3 metres long, as well as compliment the business’s unique fabric cutting system.
Warwick fabrics also required a display area and a dedicated packing and invoicing station.
Above all else, adherence to the business’s stringent OH&S processes was paramount.
Storage solution provided
The team at Safer Storage Systems worked together with Warwick Fabrics to design and deliver the right storage solution that would optimise their storage requirements. This included:
• A customised pallet racking solution using SSS Racking to maximise capacity for storing and handling rolls of fabric 1.6-3 metres long.
• A large mezzanine floor, in excess of 1800 SQM, was installed. This mezzanine is a combination of structural and pallet racking supported.
• A small section of widespan picking levels was added to the Mezzanine floor with the rest of the floor reserved as a multipurpose display and storage area.
• The allocation of the underside of the mezzanine floor to the ‘cut to length’ area; where the lengths of fabric are cut for customers and made ready for despatch.
• Safer Storage Systems also installed multiple workbenches for packing and invoicing.
Safety Considerations
The following was also installed to ensure that full adherence was made to Warwick fabrics stringent safety standards.
• Heavy duty floor rail system installed to limit damage from forklift impact.
• Bollards to help stock pickers line up with the aisles. This also provides protection from any impact with the racking.
• Armco rail to separate picking areas from despatch and receiving areas.
Due to the size of the storage configuration to be installed, Safer Storage Systems had to ensure that the structural loads of the pallet racking would be compatible with the concrete slab of the building.
Throughout the installation Safer Storage Systems were also required to liaise and work with other trades on site to ensure the most efficient build. For example, the crew would complete a section of the warehouse and then allow the other trades to install other components, such as sprinklers, lighting, and data cables.
By minimising the storage footprint of the pallet racking installed, the Safer Storage Systems team was able to save the customer money, as the number of sprinklers required was reduced overall. This cost was further reduced by relocating and reusing some existing materials.
“With a history of offering innovative and cost-effective solutions that benefit our business, we trusted Safer Storage Systems to help us find and develop our new facility.
Safer Storage Systems understood our operational and storage requirements, which meant that the selected storage layout and final installation has provided us with excellent value and great warehouse functionality.” – Joe Manno, Operations Director
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