Autumn 2007

A major new 180,000 sq ft distribution centre has been opened by Direct Wines in Gloucester, featuring a bespoke storage solution that combines very narrow aisle racking for bulk stock with specially designed shelving for the picking areas. The project was managed by consultancy The Logistics Business.

The company behind the storage system was Linpac Storage Systems, which had previously developed a system for Direct Wines at its existing warehouse in Theale. This is being retained by the company, which needed the extra capacity to cope with business growth. The new facility has also allowed it to bring in-house a range of services that were previously outsourced.

Inside the warehouse the very narrow aisle racking has a bulk stockholding capacity of 18,000 pallets of wine, which is destined almost exclusively for the UK market.

Pick and deposit stations facilitate the safe moving of loads into and out of the racking, and there is a special racking section for packaging which is stored on mesh decks at one end of the warehouse.

Several areas of the distribution centre dedicated to different types of picking, which include pick to light, pick to voice and two-step picking.

In the pick to light area, Linpac has installed pallet racking with carton live beds. Long-span shelving is used in the pick to voice area, with tilted mesh decks for the speciality wines and carton live beds with upward sloping picking trays for the more popular brands.