Opinion Space Optimisation
Space mission
In this month’s article from the Automated Material Handling Systems Association (AMHSA), Derek Scott, project sales manager for Davicon Mezzanine Floors, looks at the challenge of fi nding space to work.
The word ‘mezza- nine’ comes from the Italian word ‘mezzano’ and the
“A mezzanine fl oor can be a much cheaper and less disruptive option than relocation”
Latin ‘medianus’, both mean- ing ‘middle’. In architecture, a mezzanine or entresol (in French) is an intermediate level between the main fl oors of a building and therefore not typically counted among the overall fl oors. One of the most famous mez- zanine fl oors was constructed for HM Bark Endeavour, the ship that Captain James Cook used for his voyage of discovery to Australia and New Zealand in the late 1760s. Built for the coal trade in the north-east of England, the vessel needed more accommodation for the various biologists, geologists, cartographers, artists and extra navigators and the ‘tween deck mezzanine was the answer. Maybe you have a building that no longer fi ts the operational needs or production output of your business. Or perhaps it suits you now but, when you plan for the future of your business, you fi nd that your facilities will no longer match your requirements. If so, you can consider adapting your premises by adding ad- ditional footprint through a mez- zanine fl oor. It can, of course, be a much cheaper and less disruptive option than relocation.
46 March 2014
ACCOMMODATING GROWTH In what ways could extra space improve your operations? It may be that you could consoli- date your business by bring- ing operations back into one streamlined facility. Elements such as accounts, sales and marketing that have drifted off to remote offi ces in the past to make room for production could be brought back together. It may also be that the pattern of your work has changed. New operations such as ecommerce will have brought with them the need to handle returned goods effi ciently – an operation best served by its own dedicated work team and processing area. In most fl oor-based ware- houses, it is possible to expand vertically and add one or two new levels. In fact, it is pos- sible to double the existing fl oor space without the need for a full planning application. It may also be the right time to add some automation to the goods-handling process. The cur- rent trend is to introduce, where possible, goods-to-man picking, sortation and conveying of prod- uct to dispatch – limiting pickers’ movements rather than requiring them to roam around the site looking for order lines. Auto- mation allows conveyors and
www.shdlogistics.com
lifts to transfer goods between mezzanine fl oors with sortation, picking and packing being achieved on multiple levels.
LOOK UP!
Of course, you may think that you don’t have the room for extra fl oor levels. The trick here is to look up! You will most likely fi nd that there is considerable space – such as the area above the loading docks. This area is mainly populated by low-lift pallet trucks that do not need the headroom of, say, a reach truck. Finally, consider your greatest asset – your staff. The world is always moving on and they are looking for a quality environment in which to work in terms of their locker spaces, canteen areas, toilets and training rooms. Have you completed an audit of the accommodation that your staff use every day? Will it keep your best employees and attract the new recruits that you will need? Can you match the facilities that, say, a new supermarket chain or multinational company will offer to staff when they build in your town? Finally, bear in mind that it will cost relatively little to evaluate fully the extra effi ciency that a new mezzanine fl oor could bring you. ■
www.amhsa.co.uk
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