Nene fits out new facilities for SPAR

Nene has provided A.F.Blakemore and Son with a state-of-the-art facility, which is able to accommodate more than 4,500 standard pallets.

When SPAR's distribution company, A.F.Blakemore and Son , needed to equip its new 5,629 square metre warehouse facility at the Axcess 10 Business Park in Walsall in the West Midlands, it turned to leading storage and materials handling supplier, the Nene Group plc.

The new facility has increased SPAR's ambient warehousing by 20 per cent expanding its overall capacity to 26,476 square metres.

This has enabled SPAR to accommodate an increased range and volume of product for customers whilst at the same time allowing A F Blakemore to improve operational efficiency and safety.

To kick off the project, Nene's design team collaborated with A.F.Blakemore in creating a solution for the warehouse that maximised the space available.

With this completed and agreed by the company, work began in turning the building into a fully functional warehouse facility with special emphasis placed on health and safety.

The standard APR (Adjustable Pallet Racking) has been fitted with wire mesh deck and timber decking.

In the event of a fire, the mesh decking allows the smoke to rise directly to the sensors, which quickly activates the sprinklers thereby allowing water to progress unhindered to the source of the fire.

The installation included the construction of a large wire mesh enclosure to store aerosols.

The specially constructed cage has been fitted with a roller shutter door to easily allow fork lift truck assess to the area but which can be quickly and effortlessly closed in the event of an incident to the seal off the potentially unstable environment from other parts of the warehouse.

In addition, Nene has supplied a diverse range of other health and safety products.

These include the installation of Nene's own patented Rack Deflektor to protect pallet-racking uprights and special wood infill barriers fitted to the ends of the aisles.

The deflectors' florescent colour alerts mechanical handling equipment operators to their location and at the same time drastically reduces the power of the truck should a collision occur.

"We have worked with Nene on other applications and knew they would provide us with a first rate job", said Steve Mason, General Manager at A .F.Blakemore and Sons .

"The installation was an excellent joint effort and has achieved everything that we set out to accomplish.

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