airwair international

AIRWAIR
INTERNATIONAL
Case Study
PALLET RACKING
The UK’s largest manufacturer of Pallet Racking, Shelving and Lockers
LINK 51 INSTALL INTEGRATED STORAGE
SOLUTION FOR ICONIC FOOTWEAR
BRAND
Dr. Martens is a British footwear and clothing brand, which also
makes a range of accessories – shoe care products, clothing,
luggage, etc.
The famous air-cushioned sole, designed by German inventor, Dr. Klaus Maertens, was
engineered to meet the need of providing support and comfort for his broken foot. The
Dr. Martens 8-eye boot, first manufactured by R Griggs and Co, British boot makers, with its
trademark yellow stitch, grooved sole and heel-loop, was a boot for workers, initially worn by
postmen and policemen; comfortable,
durable and lightweight in comparison to
its competitors at the time.
Subsequently throughout its history, the
brand has been adopted and subverted by
countless free thinking individuals,
subcultures, tribes and musicians.
A specific range of “Made In England”
products are still manufactured in the
Cobbs Lane factory, Wollaston, England
which has been making footwear since
1901; this is the home of the original
Dr. Martens boot and the company
headquarters.
With a 104,000 sq ft logistics facility in
Northampton, further offices in London,
Portland and across Asia, and an expanding
global retail portfolio, Dr. Martens sells
shoes and accessories from all parts of the
world, in addition to collaborating with
well-known partners as diverse as Yohji
Yamamoto through to Adventure Time.
“Link 51 are a very good company to deal with. The levels of communication throughout the project were excellent,
as was the support and assistance we received in dealing with the complexities of the build. The fact that they are a
UK company helps enormously; I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend their services in the future.”
Mark Ashton, UK Warehouse Manager, Dr Martens
The Brief
Having occupied a 43,000 sq ft distribution
warehouse for 16 years and previously
used Link 51 on several occasions to help
increase overall capacity, Dr Martens,
trading under the Airwair International
brand, recently moved into their new
104,000 sq ft distribution centre near
Northampton.
As the build progressed and on account of
the good relationship with Link 51, early
discussions on racking types, design and
layout options took place, to ensure that
the area available was fully utilised. Despite
there being no formal tender process,
Dr Martens consulted with a number of
warehouse racking specialists and MHE
suppliers in order to compare products,
service delivery and cost. Link 51 eventually
secured the contract due to their
understanding of the brief, flexibility and
competitive rates.
Key to the racking installation was whether
to opt for a wide aisle or narrow aisle
solution. With pros and cons for both,
Dr Martens’ warehouse management team
chose a wide aisle configuration to enable
a faster pick process for their wholesale
and retail/online operations. Provision was
made for 6,700 pallet locations, 1200
ground location spaces of which 1000 had
beams and mesh decks located for ground
location picking.
In addition to the pallet racking, the
completed layout of the warehouse included two mezzanine floors for clothing
stock and archive material, a packing area
and an allocated space at the rear of the
warehouse for MHE charging. An in-rack
sprinkler system was also factored-in.
The Solution
For the main racking area Link 51 installed
42 runs of wide aisle pallet racking, which
provided direct access to every pallet.
Space between each run was increased
marginally to accommodate the in-rack
sprinkler system and provide a 50mm pallet
overhang if required.
During the design process, Link 51 and
Airwair made modifications to the racking,
which included:
l Increasing the beam height in the
finished goods area to 2.2m to facilitate
a quick and easy load onto outbound
transport without the need to
re-configure pallets. This simple
adjustment saves time in the pick
process and costs for transport were
maximised where possible.
l In a designated part of the higher level
racking, Link 51 installed mesh grills
across beams in a number of bays to
support Dr Martens’ limited use of
plastic pallets.
l Dividers to separate previous
seasons/slower moving stock at the rear
of the Distribution Centre. Previously
palletised centrally, stored in high bays
and sorted on demand - a time
consuming and labour intensive process.
On the mezzanine floor allocated for
clothing and accessories, Link 51 designed
the space utilisation combining Longspan
shelving from Dr Martens’ previous
warehouse. To complete the layout, new
Longspan shelving was also provided that
had been re-sized to accommodate
Dr Martens’ specific tote boxes. In keeping
with insurance regulations, the height of
the Longspan was restricted, but the
number of shelves were maximised to
accommodate stock.
Link 51 also supplied Euro shelving on the
mezzanine for ‘returns’ from Dr Martens’
retail stores. This shelving, which was
designed to suit the space allocated, was
configured to provide multiple pick
locations for a variety of SKUs.
Link 51 (Storage Products)
Link House, Halesfield 6, Telford TF7 4LN
0800 169 5151
01384 472 599
Email: enquiries@link51.co.uk
Web: www.link51.co.uk
Tel:
PALLET RACKING
Fax:
Note:
This publication shows general concepts only, and should not be used as a guide for specific design or assembly purposes. Link 51 reserves the right to
alter the specification on any of these products, in the customers interest, without prior notification.
AirwairInternational/2015.1.29/Issue1
By using Link 51, Airwair International
Ltd benefited from:
l UK based in-house manufacturing
capability
l Fully managed market-leading mass
storage solutions
l Extensive knowledge and experience
l High quality product range combining
strength, durability and operational
reliability