The construction of the Hayat facility inTurkeyis in full swing. As Mecalux continues to make gigantic strides forward with the installation of the 41,000 square foot logistics warehouse for the leader in cleaning and household products, the challenge has been to set an appropriate work pace. “Up until now, the biggest difficulty has been mounting the secondary structure into the normal rack structure.” Guillem Clofent, Managing Director for Mecalux, said, “It’s necessary to have the numerous pieces fit into the joints.” Despite the engineering challenges, the international 120-person crew has been working relentlessly to meet critical deadlines. Performance management tools have been helping enhance worker productivity by analyzing how crews are carrying out and completing specific tasks. As project manager Asier Fernández said, “They allow us to calculate the work progress by group and type, […] recording daily the advancement values for each task and group, and allowing us to quickly identify unwanted tendencies or tasks that need to be reinforced.” By monitoring each construction sector’s progress, Mecalux has been able to address every issue that potentially impedes productivity.
Progression
Up until late July, the installation progress was about 30 percent complete after primarily mounting the frames of the rack supported warehouse. Parallel to that, five of the 15 stacker cranes were assembled and mounted. Unit Load AS/RS arrived later that month and were installed in August. However, from July until October, Mecalux will have all but three of the 15 cranes installed, including periphery AS/RS devices such as conveyors and crane guide rails systems.
No Spark, No Fire
A key component to the facility’s installation is the incorporation of an oxygen reduction fire suppression system. This kind of system is used when water would be just as damaging to the stored products as fire. The system consists of maintaining an oxygen concentration level below 21 percent, (between 14 and 17 percent usually), which contains a fire in case of an emergency. This oxygen level reduction inhibits the flame and limits its ability to spread. In order to reduce the oxygen concentration, almost 71,000 cubic feet (2,000 cubic meters) per hour of nitrogen are injected into the atmosphere, and an additional 35,000 cubic feet (1,000 cubic meters) per hour are pumped in during a fire emergency to ensure protection to the affected area.
Tale of the Tape
Gradually, the rack supported warehouse is beginning to take shape. At its conclusion, the largest rack supported warehouse in Turkey will be 394 feet long (120 meters) by 328 feet wide (100 meters), and 148 feet high (45 meters); with a nearly 161,000 Europallet capacity. The pallets will be distributed in 15 independent aisles of double depth racks with 24 levels of storage height. Inside the warehouse there will be a selective pallet rack area designated for picking orders and will hold nearly 1,800 pallets.
Now that the project has reached its middle point, the challenge of establishing a regular rate of construction is becoming a more pressing matter. Despite the size of the project, the Hayat facility has been an opportunity to overcome challenges and reach new milestones in the quest for total warehouse solutions.