tibbet and britten content

The Spectrum division of Tibbett & Britten asked us to help them to determine the benefits and feasibility of implementing a fully automated materials handling system at the proposed new Distribution Centre for a leading High Street Retailer. Demand is forecast to exceed capacity at the three existing sites by 2005 and so a plan to construct a new single DC had been developed. This presented the opportunity to rethink the ways that product could be stored, picked and despatched.

The first step was to identify and gather the data that would be needed. We then guided the data analysis and interpreted the results. Many different options were considered, but by using a strict methodology that examines the performance and attributes of each type of equipment and operational methods, we were able to determine the best way forward.

An outline specification was developed and presented to the Client. This included the rationale behind the selections made, a schedule of all the equipment and resources that the scheme required, as well as the budget costs. The final solution entailed a combination of automated storage and retrieval, manual picking and high speed sortation.