THE CLIENT'S BRIEF

B&Q were looking to streamline their distribution system and at the same time support their ever increasing number of B&Q stores and larger B&Q warehouse stores. This resulted in identifying a requirement for a new national distribution centre to be based in the midlands which gave a good central location to operate from. The B&Q product range was not only diverse from small packs of screws and nails to large items such as concrete mixers and sheds, but also had a high degree of seasonality and peaks. This meant that the solution had to be both flexible and adaptable. The receiving process needed to contend with the demands of item deliveries from global manufacturers and often items needing to be split from a delivery outer to access the products so it can be located into suitable storage mediums.

THE LOGISTEX SOLUTION

The Logistex solution consists of a bulk pallet highbay which holds the reserve pallet storage of products for the picking areas and utilizes double deep storage accessed by twin load handling automatic stacker cranes. The picking is split based on the item size and frequency of picking between pick from pallet and pick from tote. The pick from pallet products are carried out in a VNA area with local reserve stock as well as large pallet based products. Items for an order are picked to a customer order pallet prior to marshalling for despatch. The pick from tote products are held in a tote based pick face, for the faster moving lines this pick face is automatically replenished by way of a miniload. Picking in this area is to customer tote with the picker using a trolley with a number of customer totes and an onboard Pick By Light system. The picked totes are held in a storage tower and prior to despatch are released order by order for stacking onto a pallet by a robot. The pallets are then merged with pallets from the VNA order based on customer.