Work on the new warehouse, which holds 2.5M pieces (a working capacity), began in December 2007 and just six months later the new site is just about ready to go.

Blue Max founders David and Mary Fawcus are delighted with the new addition to the site, which will now handle all Blue Max Stag distribution and warehousing (leaving a new sales office and showroom in Notingham).

At the time of visiting, Blue Max Stag had just taken delivery of several state of the art forklifts, which will follow special wires laid in the warehouse floor and enable staff to safely and efficiently reach the storage shelves in the particularly high warehouse, which actually measures 1M cubic feet.

A new system of hand held, radio controlled barcode scanners has also been introduced, which will take warehouse staff directly to the correct picking destination, reducing errors and improving efficiency.

"The new software system is more accurate and has been custom built to our own requirements," explained David. "The next stage is to go to a voice activation system, where the scanner actually speaks to the picker, which we plan to move to within the year."

Other features of the warehouse include the lighting, which is motion detected, so it only comes on as and when needed in each aisle to save running costs.

The most significant benefit of these improvements is the impact they will have on customer service, something that Blue Max Stag prides itself on. Doubling its stockholding will mean less stock-outs for customers, while the new systems will help eliminate picking errors.

"Our old customers, who have been with us from the beginning, still think of us operating from our attic - they are mind-blown when they come here!" said Mary.

Part of the investment includes the construction of a two-tier mezzanine floor in the existing warehouse, which has provided extra storage space for 100,000 hanging garments.

The mezzanine is serviced by a state of the art conveyor system, which transports the garments (there can be up to 6,150 blazers per container) up to both levels.

This investment, which Blue Max Stag claims is unique in the industry, offers huge time savings. "Without it we simply wouldn't have been able to put stock on two floors," said Mary. When it comes to picking the garments, the conveyor system is just reversed to take them downstairs again.

The extra capacity is essential to the company at a time when schoolwear orders are beginning to change, explained Mary.

"The really big forward orders are disappearing across the industry because of the new directive which prevents schools buying from just one supplier," she said. "Now the schools can't be sure of sales, so they don't make such big forward orders.

This is why the Blue Max Stag way of holding stock all year round really works well  - it's less of a risk for schools. Holding stock is becoming more and more important."

The investment is part of an ongoing sytems overhaul for Blue Max Stag, which in 2006 introduced gravity fed flow racking. This added 30% more picking areas and made it easy to rotate stock on a first-in-first-out basis.

Earlier this year the company switched to new accounting software and introduced an integrated warehouse management system, using the hand held radio controlled barcode scanners mentioned earlier.

"The new warehouse allows us to provide a better service to our customers and gives us the advantage of having all our products on one site, rather than a split site," said David. "It also gives adequate space to expand the business over the next few years."

Although there are currently no specific plans to expand its ranges, the consolidation in the industry could give rise to further acquisitions, he said. "The industry is fragmented and it's beginning to consolidate. We would wish to be in the lead of this process, and have started with Stag."

He added: "We are looking to expand both organically and by acquisition, so the extra space may stand us in good stead."

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---