Amerilab Warehouse Design: Phases Two & Three

Amerilab Technologies Inc. produces edible flavored powders that dissolve in water, including effervescent tablets and powders. Such an application demands a secure and effective storage of raw materials. 

AK Material Handling Systems collaborated with Amerilab to craft an individualized storage solution that fits the company’s requirements. Please continue reading to find out how we achieved our goal to meet their requirements during phases two and three and our plan for finishing the project in the remaining stages.

Storage Needs and History

Amerilab Technologies is headquartered in Plymouth, Minnesota. The company turned to third-party warehousing after outgrowing its initial warehouse location. This expansion considerably increased its storage expenses. After some time, the expanding business needed additional storage space for manufacturing inside the warehouse, resulting in its purchase of another warehouse location.

This new warehouse will expand the company’s internal storage and manufacturing capacity but requires an intensive design before being used as a functional facility. 

Amerilab Storage Design Timeline Update

In Phase One, we installed 1900 Pallet positions of push-back racking into half of the Amerilab facility. This phase allowed Amerilab to completely cease its need for a 3rd party storage facility service and significantly decrease its overhead costs. 

In phase two, we expanded the raw material storage racking into the second half of the warehouse facility. Phase two included the installation of 800 additional pallet positions. This expansion allowed Amerilab to organize its inventory better and granted ease of access to products. Amerilab will use the new space for inventory storage and product manufacturing. Amerilab utilized three deep pushback racks to maximize the space for their higher volume of raw materials.

Phase three involved the installation of Steel King single deep selective racking for miscellaneous and packaging storage – approximately 1,000 pallet positions in three rows. This selective rack was needed for the small lot SKUs (1 or 2 pallets) and miscellaneous production items.

Phase four will begin the integration of additional new pushback racking and relocated pushback from another facility. This phase will add an additional 892 pallet positions. This move will free up valuable space for further manufacturing.  

The facility uses a pushback racking system that is intended for high-density, multi-product storage. It requires very little maintenance while providing excellent selectivity. Up to five pallets can be safely stored on the system’s nesting carriages.

Each pallet is loaded one at a time onto a free-rolling carriage, which can be pushed back into the lane by adding further pallets. Reaching into the racking during unloading is unnecessary because the carriages move toward the aisle thanks to gravity.

Overall, these phases and storage solutions aim to optimize Amerilab’s warehouse operations, increase storage capacity, and improve accessibility to their inventory.

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