Case Study Health & Safety
ASDA racks it up A
SDA first approached The Rack Group Ltd with the sole purpose to find a solution to help reduce and eliminate pallet racking
damage occurring across its distribution network. With hundreds of fork lift trucks in operation and thousands of pallet movements each day, pallet racking damage is inevitable. ASDA identified its warehouse and distribution division as an area where savings associated with pallet racking maintenance and repair could be made, and The Rack Group was able to assist.
STRONG RELATIONSHIP
The Rack Group has built a strong working relationship with ASDA over the years and has worked closely with its maintenance team to develop innovative solutions to these problems. The working relationship with ASDA started 20 years ago when The Rack Group carried out safety inspections on some of ASDA’s first distribution centres. “Due to the changes in Health and Safety legislation, ASDA were keen to unite all stores and distribution centres under one management system to help reduce repair and maintenance costs throughout the network,” says Simon Lee, installations director at The
Rack Group Ltd. “With this in mind, The Rack Group and ASDA started to develop The Rack Aid Management System.” The Rack Aid Management System is made up of five key elements: 1) scheduled racking inspections; 2) repair and maintenance; 3) specialist materials; 4) racking protection;
5) accredited training sessions. The first element The Rack Group looked at was protecting the racking from costly damage; preventing the damage or se- verely limiting it was a priority. After months of development and rigorous testing, Rack Armour was created. Rack Armour is now sold globally and reduces fork lift truck damage where ever it is installed. Users of industrial storage equipment have a legal duty to carry out regular inspection audits in order to identify damaged compo- nents (as stated in PUWER section 6), these inspections are key to the whole manage- ment system, ensuring vital information such as the type of damage, how frequent the damage is occurring and details of materi- als for stocking purposes. This information enables efficient lead times, which is crucial for a distribution network as large as ASDA’s. The next element within the management system where costs can be saved was maintenance and repair work, using spe- cialist materials created purposely to save ASDA time, money and disruption around the warehouse. When maintaining its pallet rack- ing, ASDA was able to make significant savings. Instead of replacing entire uprights The Rack Group developed special- ist materials and its own unique leg prop along with
62 June 2012 Storage Handling Distribution
www.shdlogistics.com IMPORTANT TRAINING
The last element of the Rack Aid Manage- ment System is training. ASDA and The Rack Group identified training as a vital element within the management system as a means to ensure ASDA colleagues were given the correct information, instruction, training and supervision to work safely in and around storage equipment. ASDA wanted competent operatives and seniors managers throughout the network to be aware of the dangers associated with working with pallet rack- ing. The Rack Group developed bespoke training, enabling ASDA’s workforce to work safely around the warehouse and to conduct their own pallet racking safety inspections. Further developments are in place to offer an accredited qualification NVQ (QCF) to ASDA’s employees regarding inspections to qualify its workforce. Once developed, this will then be available for others. Over the past seven years the Rack Aid Management System has saved the ASDA network over £1m in repair costs and strives to increase this figure year after year. This will be achievable through constant developments and innovative thinking. Phil Maxwell-Smith, The Rack Group’s managing director, commented: “We are very pleased that ASDA have decided to choose the Rack Aid Management Sys- tem. Over the years The Rack Group have developed a very strong working relation- ship with ASDA and look forward to work- ing with them for another year.” n
www.therackgroup.com
After a rigorous tender process, The Rack Group Ltd has renewed another year’s contract in the UK as retailer ASDA’s preferred pallet racking maintenance and inspections company.
specialist bracings, which enables the installa- tion team to replace the damaged section of upright without having to offload any materi- als, and without having to replace the whole upright, making this element of The Rack Aid Management System extremely cost effective.
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