LINPAC delivers fine quality storage solution for Direct WinesLINPAC Storage Systems has installed a bespoke storage solution into the new, Gloucester based, UK distribution centre for Direct Wines.The solution consists of a combination of very narrow aisle racking for bulk stock and specially designed shelving for the picking areas.
The distribution centre has been developed to cope with a throughput of over 50 million bottles a year.Melvyn Brown, general manager for Direct Wines, selected LINPAC Storage Systems to manufacture and install the solution at Gloucester as he had already worked with the company on a previous contract - the Direct Wines warehouse in Theale.
"LINPAC met all of our specifications and we presented them with some very precise storage issues to address," says Brown, "particularly with regard to the way bottles are presented to pickers. Theale proved to be a very good test bed and LINPAC demonstrated that they could modify their standard carton live product with upward sloping trays at the pick face specifically designed for us."
Direct Wines required another distribution centre because they had outgrown the Theale warehouse which is attached to their head office. The company had spent time outsourcing a large part of its operation, but has now brought the complete storage and distribution operation in house using both the original warehouse and the new distribution centre in Gloucester Business Park.At 180,000 sq ft, the Gloucester facility is larger and more modern than the Theale warehouse.
It has been specifically designed by Direct Wines in conjunction with their consultant, The Logistics Business, for maximum productivity to support a high level of consumer service.
Inside the warehouse the very narrow aisle racking has a bulk stockholding of 18,000 pallets of wine which is destined, almost exclusively, for the UK market.
Pick and deposit stations facilitate the safe handling of loads into and out of the racking and there is a special racking section for packaging which is stored on mesh decks at one end of the warehouse.
There are several areas of the distribution centre dedicated to picking - pick to light, pick to voice and two step picking.
In the pick to light area, LINPAC has installed pallet racking with carton live beds.
Longspan shelving is used in the pick to voice area with tilted mesh decks for the speciality wines and carton live beds with upward sloping picking trays for the more popular brands.
At the pick face these special trays present the opened cases of bottles to the picker at an ideal angle. The upward slope of the tray also acts as a brake on the cases of wines stored on the carton live preventing them from rolling down and knocking into the case which is being picked from.I
n the two step picking area, wines are picked from carton live on the top level whilst the bottom section is fitted out with galvatite decked reverse slope chutes. These chutes are used to remove the empty cardboard wine cases.The cases of wine are transported around the distribution centre on an automated case conveyor system - this system is also supported by LINPAC's racking.Direct Wines, the world's leading independent retailer of home delivered wines, is better known to many by one of its trading identities such as Laithwaites, The Sunday Times Wine Club or The Barclaycard Wine Service.
Started in 1969, the company is still privately owned by Tony and Barbara Laithwaite, its turnover is now in excess of £250m.Based in Milton Keynes, LINPAC Storage Systems is one of the leading British manufacturers of quality storage solutions. The company is part of the world renowned LINPAC Group of companies - the UK leader in storage and materials handling.
