Arcadia Farms is a family-owned beverage and bottling manufacturer based out of Arden, North Carolina.
SUCCESS:
With 60% more storage available that didn’t exist before, Arcadia Farms has been able to devote space for additional storage and increase their staging area. And due to the mobile nature of the rack, the samples can be moved if Arcadia requires that space for larger tasks.
The company, which has been around for more than 70 years, depends on Advanced Equipment Company for consultation and to fill its material handling and conveyor needs.
To comply with FDA regulations, Arcadia Farms has to store “retained samples” of all of its products until the expiration date of the product passes. That way, if there was a recall due to health issues, the company will be able to trace the product back to the source to discover if there might be a more wide-spread issue. Once the expiration date passes, Arcadia can discard the retained samples.
To store those samples, Arcadia was using simple pallet rack storage. The storage process was becoming inefficient so they called their AEC Sales Engineer, Scott Hovis, for consultation.
“They had called me to ask for shorter pallet rack so that people could reach the top,” says Hovis. “Once I found out how they were storing the samples, I suggested moving to a mobile storage system that would save them significant space while maintaining a hand reach access.”
Arcadia was storing bottled samples in two locations, the corner of the warehouse and in a cooler. The mobile rack solution Hovis suggested would cut down the storage space by over 50 % and provide a better organized system to access to the retained samples.
“Because of the lack of storage space available, the samples tended to get a little jumbled up,” Hovis says.
“As the amount of required samples grew, they would just add a new section of rack. With a mobile storage system, they would be able to increase storage space plus organize the samples more efficiently and keep them safely accessible.”
Due to the long-time trusted partnership with AEC and the common sense approach of the solution, the company made a quick decision to implement the space saving mobile rack.
“Anytime you tell a customer they can store the same amount in 1/2 the space with mobile rack, they get a little bit excited,” says Hovis.
“After we explained the details on what and how, they could picture it. They saw the value of the solution and felt confident with the change. They trust us and they’ve never been scared of progression.”
The two non-powered, hand cranked mobile storage systems drastically increased the previous space area by 55 – 60%. This space was gained due to the increased density of the mobile units – as well as the revamped organization system.
With 60% more storage space available that didn’t exist before, Arcadia has been able to devote space for additional storage and increase their staging area. And due to the mobile nature of the rack, the samples can be moved if Arcadia requires that space for larger tasks.
Overall, the mobile storage system allowed Arcadia a freedom that didn’t previously exist. It’s a luxury that they’re taking full advantage of now.
“We’ve always done a good job for Arcadia and they rely on us to help them,” Hovis says.
“Their expertise is bottling and they look to us for consultation with their operational problems. My goal is to provide them the solutions they need to make them more profitable”
