Improved throughput, operating efficiencies and stock management, together with significant cost savings, are just some of the major benefits provided by a newly-built, fully-automated warehouse, opened recently by Coca-Cola Enterprises Limited (CCE) and designed, manufactured and installed by FKI Logistex® - a global leader in integrated materials handling solutions.

Handed over by FKI Logistex on time and on budget, this sophisticated facility provides on-site storage for the first time at CCE's Edmonton production unit, eliminating expensive double-handling operations when shipping stock off-site to local warehouses.

Linked to five bottling production lines, handling primarily 500-ml and 2-litre plastic bottles of soft drinks for CCE customers throughout London and the South of England, the new warehouse can receive 200 pallets and despatch 300 pallets every hour. Interfaced to the CCE host WMS, the Logistex Warehouse System handles every movement from receipt to despatch.

Following CCE's philosophy of 'never stopping production', FKI Logistex has employed its robust and well-proven handling technologies, plus testing and simulation, to meet targets of 98.5 per cent to 100 per cent full system availability and 65 per cent throughput even when 'down'. The ultra-resilient overall design avoids risk of single failure points.