Raben builds in Poland

STACK ‘EM HIGH

WAREHOUSING • RABEN HAS EXPANDED ITS LOGISTICS CENTRE IN POLAND WITH THE OPENING OF A NEW HIGH STORAGE FACILITY CAPABLE OF HANDLING A WIDE VARIETY OF DANGEROUS GOODS

THE LATEST ADDITION to Raben Group’s expansive logistics centre in Robakowo, near Poznań, Poland, has officially opened. This new warehouse is a part of ongoing expansion in the region for Raben as it seeks to upgrade and improve its storage capabilities in central and eastern Europe.

The new high-storage facility adds an additional 21,000 m2 to Raben’s existing hub in the area and is able to accommodate 41,000 pallets, bringing the total floorspace to 120,000 m2 and capacity to 185,000 pallets. Furthermore, the logistics centre now has 18,000 m2 of cross-dock area and 5,000 m2 of production space.

Divided into five distinct areas with highstacking capabilities, the new warehouse features state-of-the-art safety equipment that has been designed to contain and stop a variety of incidents that could arise from a wide variety of stored dangerous goods.

“The safety of our employees and our neighbours is a non-negotiable value in Raben Group. Hence, when building new facilities, we equip them with the most modern systems, such as the modern automatic foam extinguishing system,” says Wojciech Szafran, regional director of Raben Logistics Polska.

PREPARED FOR ANYTHING Some of the five areas are specialised to allow for the storage of aerosols or oxidants. Each zone is separated with REI 240 fire division walls and fire gates with EI 120 fire resistance. The ceiling and in-rack sprinkler systems have been designed in accordance with the FM Global standard.

To minimise the risk to the environment the floor in new facility is resistant to paraffin, alcohol, solvents, aerosols and lubricants, in accordance with the German regulation WGK-2.

Additionally, in order to supplement the range of items that can be stored by Raben, one of the chambers in the existing facilities has been adapted to store a wide selection of goods classified as flammable liquids IA, IB, IC according to the US National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standard. Such an assortment requires appropriate fire protection; a high expansion foam system is installed in one of the warehouses in accordance with the FM Global standards.

Due to the modern design, focus on staff welfare and aim to utilise all available space, interesting solutions have been implemented, including tall racks with narrow aisles, requiring the use of special forklift trucks.

“In our warehouse, we have semiautonomous VNA trucks, which certainly helps the work of operators. We also lease high-reach trucks powered by lithium-ion batteries instead of the most commonly used acid batteries,” explains Szafran.

The facility has also been designed for co-packing operations. Specialised surfaces have been prepared and equipped with new technology. The new equipment includes automatic welding machines, labelling devices, palletisers, special packaging robots and automatic solutions supporting the processes of picking and packing, such as the line for the production of stands.

The new warehouse shares the same great transportation links that the previous facilities take advantage of. Located close to the S11 expressway and only 5 km from the Krzesiny junction connecting to the A2 motorway, the Raben hub has easy access to a range of major networks across Central Europe. HCB www.raben-group.com