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Challenge

Auto tire repair centers are popping up all over the St. Louis bi-state area. One of their newest additions, located in Washington, Missouri, had a clear vision of what their facility needed: a safe, efficient, and cohesive workplace.

To bring this vision to life, our automotive experts at Industrial Shelving Systems were brought in. Our team knew the importance of creating an environment where workers could have easy access to inventory to streamline operations.

The challenge? Ensuring this new setup included high-volume tire storage while also making it efficient to move these tires around. Our solution included a mix of automotive shelving, tire storage, a mezzanine for additional storage space, and a tire conveyor.

This combination of these automotive storage solutions is exactly how we created a solution that met speed with safety, transforming this new facility into a functional work environment.

Solutions

This auto tire repair center required a complicated system, but having completed a few similar facilities before, we had an idea of what to expect. This automotive facility needed two floors of storage to be able to have enough inventory in stock, which then required a way to connect these two floors together. “It’s a cool system because you have two standalone systems – a supported catwalk system and the tire conveyor in the middle, so that’s unique,” says Croker, the automotive lead at Industrial Shelving Systems. By having two separate systems, we were still able to connect these two together, leading to a cohesive setup.

Starting out with the ground floor, this team wanted storage space for their smaller items. 6 sections of Rousseau shelving were used as the automotive storage for this area. On these open shelves, smaller boxes of inventory were able to stack perfectly and bottles were placed in rows. Everything on the shelves is highly visible, easy to access, and quick to grab, allowing workers to be able to find something when needed. With this shelving, smaller inventory can stay organized, leading to a productive space.

Since this automotive facility needed space to store tires, a catwalk system was created on a mezzanine to create extra room. The second floor offers space for this facility to have enough tires on hand to ensure their stock will keep their operations moving forward. This way, they don’t have to be at a standstill from waiting on new shipments to carry out their day-to-day activities.

To store the tires, Tri-Boro shelf support was designed and installed. With designing these shelf supports, it was important to get the dimensions of the cross beams correct. The correct dimensions ensures that there is enough aisle space as well as stairwell support, and the thresholds between the mezzanine and platform would be accurate.

To really connect the bottom and top floor all together, an E-Z Lift Tire Conveyor was installed. This automation system can move in both directions, having the ability to move tires up and down from floor to floor. These conveyors are designed to move tires at an angle, bringing together the top floor to the ground level. The roller supports on the conveyor stabilize these tires as they move up and down.

With their tire conveyor, workers are now prevented from carrying these tires individually up and down the stairs, or throwing them over the loft. “There’s a lot of time savings in stocking the tires, so when you get stock trucks in, they can back the truck up to the conveyor, and it loads them upstairs instead of having them carry them up or using a forklift,” says Croker. 

Results

This automotive setup is now safe and efficient for the auto tire repair center team. With two separate setups that are connected with a tire conveyor, workers can quickly find inventory items and move them around as needed. This setup will allow them to be productive and safe as they carry out their day-to-day activities, allowing them to serve their customers quickly.

Looking to create a safe and efficient setup in your automotive space? Our St. Louis automotive experts are ready to help. Let us know your current struggles or if you’re looking to create a setup for your new facility. We’ll recommend the most efficient and organized solutions for your automotive facilities. Reach out to us here or give us a call at 1-800-875-6201.