Warehouse selective pallet racking system: the answer to Nesto warehouse needs
Introduction
Nesto group is one of the fastest growing hypermarket chains over the last 17 years with more than 90 outlets operating across GCC & India FMCG market. Nesto is known for their most competitive price goods with exceptional quality. They have a very ambitious plan to expand.
To cope with expansion plans, Nesto decided to have a large distribution center outside of Muscat. A very advanced warehouse to store their goods on pallets using selective pallet racking systems. The warehouse with the 1431 SQM space (53 x 27 m) and having a clear height of 8 meters was chosen as a storage facility.
Due to our successful references and credibility and as a leading pallet racking system provider in Oman, Palmore International LLC was invited by Nesto to propose the racking storage solution.
Defining solution – Selective pallet Racking System
Being into the Retail segment there were large numbers of different kinds of SKUs required to be stored in the racking systems without losing any warehouse space. The prime objective of the pallet racking solution was maximum storage capacity with optimum operational efficiency.
Since a larger number of items/SKUs involved which needs to be accessed selectively, selective pallet racking was the preferred racking option for nesto warehouse. It was decided to standardize the racking solution so that there should not be confusion during handling the items. Therefore, all items should be placed on the wooden pallet of standard size. A typical pallet rack specification was approved having 2900mm span and 2000mm level to level distance. The height of the rack was chosen as 7000mm. Based on total load of item each loading level was designed to carry a load of 2.5 Ton UDL/level. A galvanized mesh on each loading level was also provided so that in case of any irregular size of pallet, it can also be accommodated in the proposed pallet racking solution.
The total number of units was 224 Nos. having 12 Double facing rows and 1 single facing row. The aisles were kept 3000mm in between the racks for the safe maneuvering of the forklift.
Safety of the selective pallet racking system
Keeping safety as the priority, Additional safety was provided by putting upright guards to each upright & row guards for each pallet racking row. Generally, as a standard the base plate of uprights needs to be fixed (grouted) to the ground by 2 Nos of grouting bolts, but we decided to to double the number of nos and fix each one with 4 nos. of grouting bolts to each base plate as well as to the upright guards. This gave a sturdy and stronger racking structure.
Challenges during the project & their remedies
- One of the biggest challenges of this racking project was we were asked to do racking while the client’s other civil & electrical work was going on in the same warehouse. Also, the warehouse was constructed but the civil work for docking & door was pending. So material entry was most challenging. We used a boom loader to enter the materials inside the warehouse & most of the items were moved manually into the main warehouse saloon.
- Synchronizing with another contractor whose work was simultaneously going on, was a herculean task. Before starting the work for every single day, we had meetings with other contractors at the site & used to decide which part of the warehouse we would like to work. Due to this proper communication all contractors were doing their job simultaneously without any hassle.
- Although the client’s warehouse was built in a professional manner, the floor was not flat thought‐out. The difference of floor was large at some points in the warehouse. We have had the shim plates to level the floors but due to the large difference in the floor leveling we had to bring almost double the shim plates than the initially available ones.
- The roof lights were installed at a later time & hence at some point the lights were coming above pallet racks. We suggested that the roof light needs to be kept in between the aisle for better effect. We adjusted some racks accordingly & the racks were perfectly aligned.
Note that during all stages of the project a very robust method of synchronization
