Company name: Schletter Australia is a developer and producer of aluminium and high grade steel mounting products based in Prestons, NSW. Servicing Australia wide. For over 30 years Schletter has offered its customers across the globe solutions for solar mounting systems, traffic engineering, trade fair construction - advertising (POS) and environmental technology. Sustainability and innovation has always been their main objective.

Industry: Aluminium

Location: Prestons NSW

Challenges: We had three challenges to overcome in providing the correct solution for Schletter Australia. Our challenges were:

• The Selective Pallet Racking  was of an unknown brand that we have never worked with before. The pallet racking was also being shipped from overseas.
• The Pallet Racking quantities, sizes and capacities were not finalised
• The Selective Pallet Racking was designed to store Euro pallets. Therefore the pallet racking had components not used in Australia.

Through extensive and thorough scoping with our client we were able to provide a three-step solution. These were;

Solution: Through consultation with the German mother company we managed to source a full owner’s manual for the pallet racking.

• The entire job had to be quoted based on assumed quantities, however the pricing was requoted twice throughout project as changes were made
• The additional, unknown component needed to be quoted upfront. Better Racking Solutions used examples from previous similar pallet racking projects to provide pricing.

Solution in Detail:

• The Pallet Racking brand for this project was BITO. This pallet racking is produced in Europe and not available in Australia. The original quotation was created based on some quantities from the customer and photos send over from Germany. It wasn’t until after the pricing was accepted and prior to the pallet racking arriving from overseas that an instruction/owner’s manual was sourced. Better Racking Solutions had quoted fairly accurately to the manufacturer’s specification, without prior knowledge of the pallet racking. Only minor changes had to be made to allow for components not listed in the original pallet-racking brief.
• Better Racking Solutions  was required to quote on a pallet racking system with quantities supplied by the customer along with some photos. The customer also suggested that they did not completely know what was being shipped from Germany.
• Therefore, on the day that the pallet racking was received we needed to visit the warehouse and inspect the racking. Once that racking was unloaded and counted there were a few items that varied from the quantities given in the original brief. In addition to these varied quantities the racking was also only supposed to be 6.0m high however once unloaded it measured 8.0m high. Along with the addition height the vertical pallet racking frames were also constructed of thick, high-grade steel that was much heavier than originally anticipated. Because of the increased weight a different installation technique needed to be adopted. Generally, shorter lighter weight frames are lifted into place by manpower, which is a quick, cost effective process.
• Once the pallet racking had been unloaded in Australia, there were also 2 items that were not part of the original brief. One item totalled 750 pieces and that other 200 pieces. These quantities alone have the ability to add many man-hours to the project. As the racking was designed for ‘Euro’ pallets of 1200mm deep x 800mm wide these items had not been previously by us. After reviewing the manufacturer’s manual the items were identified as pallet guide frames and pallet stop bars. Essentially this pallet racking had been supplied with individual pallet guide frames for every pallet that was to be stored on the racking. These guide frames supported the pallets and guided the pallets into the correct position within the pallet racking. The second item was pallet stop bars. The stop bars need to be bolted onto the back of the pallet racking to stop the pallets from being pushed too far into the pallet racking.
• The owner’s manual was sourced from overseas to assist with the installation. Along with the previous experience that Better Racking Solutions has from its pallet racking installations, the correct procedures were quickly identified. The racking had a few variations compared to the Standards in Australia at the time. This racking required 2 fixings to be installed per upright post (4 fixings per frame).
• Through consultation with the German mother company we managed to source a full owner’s manual for the pallet racking. This helped greatly with identifying the different components and understanding their weight and capacities. The manual also dictated how the pallet racking was to be installed. The manual also included descriptions and details on the entire pallet racking components that are not standard in Australia. Some of the quantities to be installed actually decreased, while some of the quantities increased. We managed to keep the cost of the additional inclusions to suitable level to the customer.
• Even though we were able to source the owner’s manual for the racking some of the components had never been installed by Better Racking Solutions. This dilemma made it quite difficult to price the installation of these components. By using past installation as a guide we were able to estimate the time and cost to install these additional items. The pallet guide frames are similar to the mesh deck system that we supply. The only difference is that the pallet guide frames need to be fixed into position, which was easy to estimate. The pallet stop bars could only be closely compared to our safety mesh wall. The safety mesh wall bolts to the back of the pallet racking and uses supports, loosely similar to the pallet stop bars. Even though the total components to be installed increased dramatically, the increased cost to the customer was kept to a minimum.

As a result of our implementation the benefits to our client Schletter Australia were that the Selective Pallet Racking was installed as per the manufacturer’s specifications. The pallet racking looked, operated and performed as it would have had it been installed by the manufacturer themselves.