Storage system aids Stalbridge expansion

When Stalbridge Linen Services built an extension to its Shaftsbury plant, it found that its existing roll container storage system was too bulky and labour-intensive.

“A conventional belt conveyor system would not have solved the congestion problem,” said works manager Alan Mulholland.

A storage handling equipment specialist was contacted to assess the situation and provide a solution. Index Storage Systems designed and installed an overhead conveyor system with special carriers to transport the laundry bags from finishing area to dispatch “utilising the dead space in the roof and eradicating manual handling of cages on the shop floor”, said Mr Mulholland.

Suspended from the roof, the conveyor at Stalbridge Linen Services plant extension loads at ground level then climbs to the roof and through a series of loops, provides storage as required before descending to floor level for off-loading. The conveyor consists of 286 metres of continuous chain and has over 140 carriers each equipped to carry up to 50 kg.