Creative Solutions to Account for Seismic Activity
Our e-commerce client was building a large facility in one of the nation’s hotbeds for high levels of seismic activity – Southern California. They were looking to create a distribution center that could store and distribute a high volume of products with thousands of unique SKUs. The client needed to develop 31,000 pallet positions inside of a 600,000 sq ft facility, estimating a capacity requirement of 2,500 pounds per pallet position, with storage scaling about 30-feet high. In summary, overhaul of storage systems across multiple facilities to create optimal, efficient workflows.
Having worked with this client previously on smaller projects, the client had some insight into how we can get creative to satisfy requirements and hit deadlines on phased-in projects. The building was progressing quickly, and a tight turnaround was required, with employees working in two shifts to keep the project moving forward.
In working with the client’s in-house engineers, we evaluated several options for design, delivery, and installation. Eventually, we settled on the best combination to satisfy all parties. We knew they had our trust to build and deliver this system within their timeframe. We worked with our manufacturing partners to break out shipment quantities and items to fit their phase cadence. Once we got started, we were able to execute on the continued management, installation, and logistics throughout the project.
Because of the nature of the products stored (particularly the volume of products stored), the distribution center required a special type of racking system. We worked with their in-house engineer on multiple design criteria. However, because of the region’s seismic activity, we ran into many hurdles. Some were too dense or heavy. Some found issues with storage requirements with capacity. Ultimately, we found the right mix of roll-formed and teardrop racking with a tube-rack design.
Inherently, the Tube Rack system is ideal for seismic areas because, while it is more heavy-duty than traditional racking, it can move with seismic activity. We also installed double backers with this unique system to help meet the business’s storage load requirements.
This project took a tremendous amount of back-end support, particularly on logistics and material handling. Luckily, we are known in large part because of the turnkey support clients receive on projects like this.
We hosted weekly or bi-weekly meetings with updates from our installers, project managers, and other stakeholders in the installation process throughout the project. These meetings were high-level updates that provided a picture of how the installation was progressing and updates on the permits and signoffs required for the building inspections, fire department, and anchor inspections. As the distribution center continued to progress in phases, we also had to be in lockstep with our installation crews. That level of communication was ideal for our client, who had several irons in the fire with the facility’s construction.
No project goes off without some unforeseen hurdles either. However, with that regular communication and abundance of pre-planning, we avoided many headaches while keeping track of shipments, quantities of materials being shipped, and adjusting for any additional tools that were not anticipated but suddenly required.
When clients choose Storage Solutions for a project, they know they are signing a dedicated partner that delivers on simple, smart, and strategic solutions for their business’ needs. No matter the project’s scale, we work both internally and externally to make sure we do everything we can on time and on budget. Given a typical timeline, this project could have taken up to twice as long to complete, with many more headaches transferred to our client. By taking care of the “blocking and tackling,” we gave our client the peace of mind that comes with knowing that their partner is dedicated to ensuring the correct result ultimately gets installed.
As far as we are concerned, we want to do whatever makes sense for our clients to get their projects done right. Will it require weekly check-ins? No problem. Does it require a creative solution with atypical products? Sometimes, it may. Does it occasionally need a site visit to sunny Southern California to check up on the project? Twist our arm.
Storage Solutions delivered the best communication I have ever received on a project. From the start, I appreciated all of the information and updates throughout the project.