He also explains how he came across this ‘great solution’: “I was looking around on Google for sheet metal storage racks and these ones appeared. There were also ones from other companies too. But we visited aalbers|farina first and had a good feeling from the outset.”
additional rear unloading zone
In the end the company opted for a variant almost 6 metres in height. “If there wasn’t a crane track in the way, we’d have ordered an even higher one. But it’s the second unloading zone that really makes it unique. At one end of our hall we have a laser-cutting machine and at the other a shearing machine. The rack is now exactly halfway between the two, in the middle of the dividing wall. That means we are able to take sheets from both sides.”
“In the past we had to reach up two or three metres with a forklift to take a pallet from a rack. Now the sheets are brought down automatically. As a result, we now only need the forklift once a month to top up the drawers.”
search function
He is also pleased with the search function: “We have stainless steel, aluminium diamond plate, bare sheets, blasted sheets and certified sheets with thicknesses ranging from 1.5 to 15 millimetres and in various dimensions. Everything now has its own number. If you tap 3 millimetres on the screen, you are immediately shown all sheets with this thickness. If you then tap stainless steel, you can see how many sheets you have left straight away.”
And what about efficiency? “How do you define efficiency? We are not a manufacturing company that is constantly cutting and shearing. We are involved in machine and equipment building, so the laser cutting and shearing we do is only for ourselves. Some of the machines we have here may only be in use for fifty hours a year, as we like to do everything in house and want to offer our customers a quick service. For us it’s all about convenience and space.”
maintenance contract
Conijn also concluded a maintenance contract for its automatic sheet metal storage rack: “That means it gets inspected annually and allows the supplier to log in if there is ever a fault. So far we have never had to make use of that. But it gives you a good feeling to know that if there’s a problem, they can immediately take a look.”