Smooth Warehouse Relocation at Sunrise Medical NL | SSI SCHAEFER

Success factors: Teamwork and flexibility

Interchangeable frames: using existing materials saved costs and increased storage capacity by 39%.
Smart solutions: Reusing the mezzanine floor and additional racking created the pallet locations needed.
Flexible assembly team: Sunrise Medical was very satisfied with the high degree of flexibility and excellent work ethic of the SSI SCHAEFER assembly team.

The Challenge

A new warehouse was desperately needed. The previous building, which at the time was also equipped with SSI SCHAEFER racks, in Nieuwegein, the Netherlands, was too small and no longer met today's requirements. Due to lack of space, Sunrise Medical was even forced to rent a second warehouse some distance away. "That was anything but efficient," Stanley Meijer says from the new building that is less than a kilometer away. "Here we have a modern warehouse with an area of 6,789 sqm - 5,521 sqm of ordinary floor space and 1,268 sqm of mezzanine floor space - more than 30% then before. And because this building is 8.5 meters high, we can use this surface area a lot more efficiently than in the old 5.5-meter-high building."

The Solution

Stanley Meijer took the time to set up the warehouse. He received help from his colleague Marc van Thuijl, who is responsible for Facility, Safety & Warehouse Improvement at Sunrise Medical. For almost two years, the duo sparred intensively with intralogistics partner SSI SCHAEFER. All options were on the table, from a conventional wide-aisle warehouse to a fully automated storage system. "We only get one chance to build a new warehouse, and we want to do it well. SSI SCHAEFER, and especially intralogistics sales expert Jessica Pronk, gave us all the support and time we needed for this. The result is a good basis for further growth and improvement of the operation,” says Stanley Meijer.

"In a project like this, it is crucial that all those involved operate as one team."

Stanley Meijer

Operations Manager EDC at Sunrise Medical

Stanley Meijer

Operations Manager EDC at Sunrise Medical

Interchangeable frames as the basis for new drive-in racks

The new warehouse consists of three halls. The first hall consists mostly of extra-deep PR 600 pallet racks up to the ceiling. This is where the seat cushions and other positioning products are located, which are collected with a high-lift order-picking truck. "The racks have and depth of 1.20 meters and are in single rows, so we can pick from two sides. This prevents getting too much air in your storage," Stanley Meijer explained.

The second hall with six docks is partly used for loading and unloading trucks and containers. For bulky products such as lap mobiles and wheelchairs, there are drive-in racks along the wall opposite the docks. "We took those with us from the old warehouse," Stanley Meijer says. "Because the old drive-in racks were just a little too low, we used the frames of the old pallet racks in the new warehouse. Those are fifty centimeters higher, so we were able to create an extra storage level and put away 18 percent more pallets. This is one of the advantages of SSI SCHAEFER: The frames of the drive-in and pallet racking systems are interchangeable."

Agile project management

The third hall offers the most storage space and is largely set up as a reach truck warehouse. That was not the original intention. "Actually, we had wanted to set up a narrow-aisle warehouse here. That would have allowed us to get the estimated 7,000 pallet locations needed for a balanced business case," says Stanley Meijer. "To operate narrow-aisle trucks, induction lines in the floor would have been required. As the project progressed, this solution turned out not to be feasible due to structural conditions. In close coordination with SSI SCHAEFER, we quickly adapted and identified a suitable alternative. We ultimately opted for a combination of pallet racking and reach trucks – a flexible setup that meets our current requirements."

With additional measures, Sunrise Medical and SSI SCHAEFER created enough pallet locations. "We took the mezzanine floor from the old warehouse and rebuilt it above the packaging lines in hall two so that we could put extra pallets on top of it. We also erected additional racking in hall three along the wall opposite the reach truck warehouse for even more pallet locations. Together with SSI SCHAEFER, we carefully refined every detail until the logistics solution was fully optimized and completed," explains Stanley Meijer.

Turning plans into reality – in just two months

Once the plan was finalized, the next exciting challenge was to implement the layout and transition to the new warehouse. SSI SCHAEFER was given just two months to make this happen, and they rose to the occasion. The fact that Sunrise Medical decided to take the racking from the old warehouse with it added to the complexity of the project. "There were still pallets in those racks, of course, because the operation had to continue undisturbed. So, we first had to move those pallets to the new warehouse before SSI SCHAEFER could dismantle the racking," says Stanley Meijer.

Tight planning

The success of a project like this stands or falls with good preparation. After signing the contract with SSI SCHAEFER, a kick-off meeting with all those involved followed first. "This was incredibly important. During a kick-off it becomes clear how everyone starts the game. It is important that everyone involved - from Sunrise Medical, the contractor and SSI SCHAEFER - operate as a team and go for it together," says Stanley Meijer.
A second success factor is tight planning. When will the racks be empty? When can they be dismantled? And when can they be reassembled in the new warehouse? "That all listens very closely," states Gijs Eggink, who was responsible for planning as Project Manager and who, like all other Project Managers at SSI SCHAEFER, holds the IPMA D certificate. "As a warehouse designer, you can sell a beautiful project. But if the implementation does not go to plan, the partnership relationship is disrupted. For instance, during the dismantling of some racking, the original bolts couldn’t be unscrewed as expected. Instead, they had to be carefully cut and replaced with new ones. This required some quick adjustments on-site, which the team handled efficiently and with great flexibility.”

Flexible assembly team

One successful factor that should not be underestimated was the flexibility and commitment of the in-house assembly team. SSI SCHAEFER has its "own" pool of fitters from Latvia who are deployed worldwide on a wide range of high-quality projects. Those fitters are tremendously well trained, all a wealth of experience and extensive product knowledge. "We had an excellent team with passionate mechanics who never stood still for a moment," Stanley Meijer says.

Complete satisfaction at Sunrise Medical

Now that the warehouse is fully operational, Sunrise Medical still stands by the choices made. The operation has improved quite a bit. The layout is more logical, the driving distances are shorter, and the working methods are clearer. "Not only do we work faster and more efficiently, but also more safely. Moreover, we have room to grow again here," says Stanley Meijer, who is already thinking about new innovations. "We keep looking for improvements. We now know how nice it is to have a sparring partner like SSI SCHAEFER for this."