The Challenge
B&M, one of the UK’s leading variety retailers, operates an extensive logistics and warehouse infrastructure to support their network of 700 stores nationwide. Ensuring safety and efficiency is of the highest priority, but a key challenge the warehouse operations team experienced was frequent damage to pallet racking uprights through materials handling equipment impact.
To combat this, the team invested heavily into rigorous training and traffic management, but despite this, the distribution centres were still experiencing recurring damage to pallet racking. These incidents resulted in the need for frequent repairs, with repercussions including: safety hazards for warehouse staff, operational downtime in affected pallet locations and; ongoing, and increasing maintenance costs.
In addition to this, existing repair methods available in the industry were reactive, expensive and repetitive. This all led to B&M needing to source a long term solution to this problem.
Trial & Error
Solutions are available on the market that protect against racking upright impacts and repairs. B&M started the process of trialling some of these options including clip-on column guards, floor mounted column guards, tie-on column guards and bolt-on column guards.
None of these products did anything to stop the most severe impacts and, in many cases, purely masked the damage, making it harder to spot. Use of floor mounted guards simply resulted in further damage being caused to the warehouse floor in the locations where floor fixings had been sheared off.
The Solution
PD Industrial, one of the UK’s leading providers of large scale warehouse racking, installation and repairs, had an innovative solution. Goliath™, a new upright repair kit, has been designed to not only repair damaged racking uprights, but also prevent future damage from occurring. Designed to fit all types of pallet racking, Goliath™ has been designed to put customers first and end the repetitive cycle of damage and replacement.
The Results
Following installation of Goliath™, the results were immediate and transformative. Zero upright damage was recorded in the locations where the Goliath™ kit had been installed. Thanks to a decline in upright damage, B&M noted a reduction in their repair and maintenance costs, with no further costs required in the locations where Goliath™ had been fitted. Further reductions in costs were seen as Goliath™ was cheaper than the current method of replacing the whole upright, along with a much quicker fitting time.
PD Industrial’s solution also supported B&M with their sustainability and productivity goals. Goliath™ removes the need for repetitive replacements, actively reducing their carbon footprint. Using Goliath™ upright repair kit meant there was no loss of pallet locations, meaning logistics could continue as normal, without disruption to stock management in the warehouse.
Following the initial trial, B&M have installed over 250 Goliath™ repair kits to one of their Distribution centres, with a commitment to use Goliath™ on all future racking repairs as a preventative measure in rack upright damage
A bold commitment to the integrity and quality of the kit, Goliath™ is installed with a Lifetime Warranty against manufacturing defects.
Lifetime Upright Repairs & Prevention
What sets Goliath™ apart from other solutions is that it can be installed in as little as 30 minutes, reducing disruption to busy warehouses and distribution centres. Its design means it’s compatible with all manufacturers, fitting all redundant and current racking systems in the UK & Europe.
In keeping with supporting safety standards in the UK, the warranty for the upright repair kit includes the bay load/structure and repair of the pallet racking, meeting industry standards. The intuitive design also means pallet racking is only enhanced by Goliath™, rather than altered. This is all bolstered further by the Lifetime Warranty, ensuring warehouses can continue to run efficiently and safely, whilst enjoying reductions in cost.