Due to positive business development and the long-lasting demand for warehouse and logistics space, the existing property at the Werl site reached its capacity limits. In order to continue to meet customer needs in the future, A.L.S. intended to construct a warehouse building of around 12,000 m², for which VCE took on the task of optimising the layout.
At the start of the project, the corresponding planning principles were first determined. In addition to reviewing the previous architect’s plans, this included identifying the storage requirements and quantities needed by each A.L.S. customer whose goods were to be stored in the hall in the future. In addition to goods on Euro pallets, fragile long goods with excess length and low weight as well as large and heavy paper rolls had to be considered in the layout and selection of storage technology.

The storage of pallets was planned using pallet racking. A 3-bay longitudinal storage system on five levels and a maximum storage height of 7.5 m (top edge of stored goods) enabled efficient utilisation of the hall height. In addition, this enabled A.L.S. to implement a cost-effective, fire protection-compliant ceiling sprinkler solution. For the sake of further storage flexibility, three rows of racking were designed for cross storage in order to be able to store pallets with excess length in racking if required. The pallet racks were located a short distance from the packing stations, which in turn were placed close to the truck loading ramps. This arrangement made it possible to keep the transport routes short and efficient.
For the storage of long goods, mainly lighting and medical technology, a cantilever racking system was used, on whose five storage levels articles of different lengths could be stored in a space-efficient manner.

For various goods that could not be stored on shelves, only block storage was considered due to the high weight and to maintain the flexibility of the hall. They were arranged in different blocks in the east of the hall, taking the aisle widths into account. A separate goods entrance and exit gate ensures short transport routes and fast handling.
The jointly developed storage concept was realised according to the planning in the new building project.

Images: A.L.S. Allgemeine Land- und Seespedition GmbH