Warehouse to manage the packaging of Scherp Verpakkingen in the Netherlands

Storage capacity… a priority

Scherp Verpakkingen is a small company, with a staff of ten, which offers packaging solutions to companies in any industrial sector. Recently, it moved to a new 2,000 m² distribution centre in the city of Zevenhuizen, very close to Rotterdam (the Netherlands), to provide better service to its customers.

However, if one thing was clear to Scherp Verpakkingen, explains its co-founder and CEO, Leen Schakelaar, it was the need to “make good use of the available space to store as many pallets as possible per square metre.”

With this in mind, Mecalux has equipped this warehouse with double-deep pallet racks, thus yielding greater capacity compared to single-deep pallet racks, without losing direct access to the goods. This solution features housing of two pallets of the same SKU in each location (one behind the other). To handle loads, operators use reach trucks with extendable forks capable of reaching the second pallet of each slotting lane in a completely safe manner.

Racks are 5.5 m high, with three shelf levels, and are 30 m long. Globally, they provide a 2,004-pallet storage capacity which, in the words of the company's CEO, “has meant an increase of 40% per square metre compared to our previous warehouse.”

Increased productivity

According to Leen Schakelaar, “one of our priorities was to be more efficient and quicker in storage and order picking.” The reason for these priorities was that the company must deal with a very high volume of work on a daily basis.

On the one hand, an average of 40 pallets are received from Scherp Verpakkingen's suppliers in different countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Czechia and Poland. On the other hand, 40 more pallets are distributed to the company's customers located mainly in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

Pallet racks were chosen because they provide direct access to products. As a result, the goods can be handled easily and quickly, which the company values positively and which, according to Leen Schakelaar, “has led to a considerable increase in productivity.” The correct distribution of goods has also had a positive impact on warehouse performance. Each location is assigned to the same SKU, which translates into more precise control over the 680 locations managed by Scherp Verpakkingen.

Leen Schakelaar - Co-founder and CEO of Scherp Verpakkingen
“Mecalux been a hands-on partner, always guiding us during any decision making. Its racks are specifically designed to meet the needs we raised. They include accessories and add-ons to adapt the slots to the different sized pallets with which we work.”

Advantages for Scherp Verpakkingen

• Surface utilisation: the company has inaugurated a new warehouse that optimises every spare millimetre, increasing storage capacity by 40% per square metre compared to its previous warehouse.
• Increased productivity: the racks provide direct access to the products, which accelerates the entry of 40 pallets and the exit of another 40 pallets daily.
• Efficient service: warehouse operations stand out because of their straightforward simplicity. The racking’s distribution is designed to facilitate the work of the operators.