materialhandlingupdate
the codes that apply to mezzanines.
On top of that, their status as equipment means they can be depreciated
faster than a building structure.
They’re also easy to reconfigure as
needs change, so they offer a high
degree of flexibility. Plus, they’re read-
ily customizable. “Most work plat-
forms are customer specific and are
engineered around a particular space
or particular need,” says Arlin Keck, an
engineer at storage equipment maker
Steel King who also serves as chair of
the engineering committee for the
Storage Manufacturers Association
within MHI.
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WHY GO UP?
Building up—as opposed to out—offers a
number of advantages to companies
expanding into new channels like e-commerce, say those in the know. For one
thing, installing a mezzanine or platform
will enable them to move into the new
channel faster, since they don’t have to
deal with the delays associated with site
searches and construction.
“If a company wants to enter the e-commerce world, then the sooner they are
up and running, the better. It takes a long
time to build something new,” says Klaus-Dieter Wurm, vice president and managing director for SSI Schaefer, a systems
manufacturer and integrator.
“The key advantage is timing,” adds
Todd Brendel, the head of engineering
and structural solutions for Wynright, a
material handling equipment supplier
and integrator. With work platforms, he
says, “the design process is straightforward and very clean. While the time in
new construction is quite long, [a work
platform] can just bolt together like a kit.”
Brendel adds that a typical work platform
can be installed within about six weeks.
There are inventory-related benefits as
well. For one thing, locating fulfillment
operations for different channels at a single
facility allows those channels to share
inventory. This can lead to faster inventory
turns and reduces the amount of money a
company must tie up in stock. “It allows
companies to leverage that inventory
rather than duplicate it,” says Chris Arnold,
vice president of operations and solutions
development for Intelligrated, a company
that manufactures and integrates systems.
The shared inventory can also allow for
better use of existing material handling
resources. For instance, the same sorter
that handles store orders may be utilized
for e-commerce orders, depending on
order profiles.
Other advantages include control and
flexibility. Housing fulfillment operations
for multiple channels in the same building enables companies to react more
swiftly to problems. Labor can be diverted
easily from one channel’s processing area
to another’s as needed. And speaking of
labor, there’s no need to train an additional workforce as there might be when
