Kingfield Heath, Magna Park, UK
Kingfield's Logistics Director, Ray Perry, confirmed that "Mezzanine achieved this within a twelve week building programme, starting in terrible weather conditions with the building only half built. This meant that the levelness over the entire area of the mezzanine floor demanded by the warehouse system designers Egemin and Stow, the rack suppliers, had to be guaranteed - even though half the concrete slab did not actually exist at that time."

Kingfield Heath, the leading office products wholesaler, and their consultants Alan Wilson Associates, brought in Mezzanine at an early stage in the development of their new state-of-the-art fully automated distribution centre.

The 18,500 m² warehouse carries more than 20,000 different items. The products stocked are valued at over £10 million and range from 2.5m high filing cabinets down to pencil leads. To manage this throughput, the hi-tech building has been fitted out with mezzanine levels, walkways, 1.5km of intelligent driven roller and sliding shoe sortation conveyors, 20,000 pallet locations, flow racks, a hi-tech mini-load storage system, standard shelving and a vertical storage tray complex for small cube, low frequency storage and picking.

The main mezzanine, designed to carry a higher level at a later stage, is 157m long by 21.5m wide. At 6.5m level it carries the split case picking and replenishment from pallet live storage, flow racks and conventional shelving. This called for extremely accurate interface with the pallet flow racks running alongside the mezzanine. A number of conveyor runs on the mezzanine carry goods to the various work stage areas, including, by means of voids, to a lower mezzanine level.

The quality control area located on the mezzanine incorporates a sophisticated check weigher which operates within a conveyor run. To ensure its critical integrity Mezzanine designed a totally independent support structure from ground to 6.5m level to support the weigher.

Conveyor and other traffic areas at ground floor, below the main level, were kept free of additional support columns by suspending a second mezzanine from the main structure at 3.5metres. This second mezzanine, 139 metres long, carries a shoe sortation conveyor feeding picked goods and packed items to 20 goods out stations.

Two further 96 metre long mezzanines, one above the other, were also installed above the goods inward doors. Conveyors on the lower level feed tote bins to and from a mini-load system. The 10m high upper level is a viewing gallery providing visitors an overview of the complete warehouse. Mezzanine also constructed a large control room at the 10m level, from which the whole warehouse flow is managed.