DC Velocity - November 2015

BY MARTHA SPIZZIRI, MANAGING EDITOR – DIGITAL

MEZZANINES

FOR COMPANIES THAT ARE RUNNING SHORT ON WAREHOUSE OR DC space, mezzanines can be an attractive solution. For one thing, installing a mezzanine can eliminate the need to relocate. For another, it can avoid the expense and hassle of building an addition.

But mezzanines also have a downside: Heat rises, and because the mezzanine is up high, close to heat-emitting light fixtures, the temperature could run as much as 20 or even 30 degrees higher than temps on the floor. That makes things uncomfortable for workers and could result in heat stress. It also raises the risk of product spoilage or packaging failure due to moisture from condensation.

Too-high temperatures can also keep an operation from running at peak efficiency. When people are fatigued from the heat, order accuracy can suffer, warns Brian Neuwirth, vice president of sales and marketing at warehouse equipment company Unex Manufacturing Inc. in Lakewood, N.J.

FINDING YOUR COMFORT LEVEL

When DCs go to tackle the worker comfort problem, the first impulse is often
to put in fans, but fans alone might not be the best solution. (In fact, they
probably aren’t.) “If it’s 20 degrees hotter at the ceiling and you just put in
a fan, then it’s going to be roughly 10 degrees hotter than at the floor,” says
Christian Taber, senior applications engineer at the fan company Big Ass
Solutions. “That is not necessarily the best scenario.”
That’s because temperature isn’t the only factor that contributes to work-
ers’ perception of how hot they are, or to their safety, says Taber. He points
to standards from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-

materialhandlingupdate

Heatwave

Mezzanines offer a quick fix for companies seeking to expand their warehouse capacity. But special temperature control may be needed, for the sake of both workers and product.