Blog

Challenge

In North St. Louis stands a food pantry and thrift store, the St. Augustine Wellston Center, that plays a critical role in alleviating food insecurity for local residents. Many community members rely on this non-profit for consistent food and clothing essentials. “Our food pantry serves families across the St. Louis area. Many residents face food insecurity, meaning they often have to choose between paying bills or buying food,” says Andrew Diemer, Executive Director at the Wellston Center.

When families come into the center once a month, they are able to select food from a menu, taking a cart up and down the aisles to pick out their food. The Wellston Center offers about a week’s worth of fresh food for each family member.

As this organization is committed to serving the community, they knew that their existing storage setup needed to improve to be able to support the volume of goods they needed to manage while creating an ergonomic setup for their volunteers.

To address this storage need, the Wellston Center partnered with Industrial Shelving Systems to develop an organized and scalable storage solution. The goal was to create a storage system that improved accessibility, streamlined volunteer workflows, and supported this non-profit’s mission to support the community.

Before: Existing Pantry Storage

Solution

The Wellston Center had been using standard pallet racking to store their food inventory, which worked but had the opportunity to be more efficient and user friendly for their needs. They were storing heavy goods on the wire decks, which volunteers had to frequently pick items from. “When I visited the operation, I noticed the volunteers had a difficult time pulling items forward, especially heavy boxes that would snag on the wire decks,” says Zach, an account manager at Industrial Shelving Systems.

With volunteers being between the ages of 70 and 80, this solution was proving difficult to move items around the facility quickly. The wire decks on the pallet rack required volunteers to bend, reach, and lift to replenish items, which was strenuous on them.

With this existing setup in mind, Zach sought to design a solution that would seamlessly integrate well into their current setup. Rather than replacing their existing storage setup, he focused on enhancing it for more accessibility. “They needed more versatile storage and a way to pick items without risk of injury. SpanTrack was hands-down the best solution for the food pantry,” says Zach.

To accomplish this, the Industrial Shelving Systems team worked with UNEX to deliver UNEX SpanTrack Wheel Bed Carton Flow to go directly on the pallet racking. This approach would allow the Wellston team to improve product rotation and ease of picking. In total, Industrial Shelving Systems worked with UNEX to provide 84 flow beds, each measuring 18” x 42” to optimize storage in their high-turnover pantry. These storage solutions support a FIFO rotation, which is important for perishable goods.

As the SpanTrack beds are simple to install on pallet racking, integrating this new storage solution required minimal disruption to the center’s operations. This quick installation also allowed them to get back to their setup quickly, with minimal downtime, ensuring they could still support their community.

Results

The partnership between the Wellston Center and Industrial Shelving Systems resulted in a storage setup that was complete with an improved organizational method. “Feedback on the new setup has been excellent,” says Andrew. By enhancing the existing pallet racking with UNEX SpanTrack Carton Flow Beds, this food pantry is equipped with a more efficient system that will provide easier access and flow for staff and volunteers.

Instead of reaching up or down to grab heavy items off the shelf, volunteers can slide items forward with ease, grabbing items they need in a safer manner.

The most important thing is that this center will be better able to service its community, providing essentials to those in need and supporting more families in the future.

Results: SpanTrack Carton Flow Installation

Enhance Your Storage Solution

If you are looking to enhance your storage setup, reach out to the Industrial Shelving System’s team. Our team is equipped to provide the best storage solution for your specific needs. Whether it is enhancing your current setup or creating a whole new storage design, we’re here to help. Send us what you’re looking for here, or give us a call at 1-800-875-6201.

Support the Wellston Center

For local to St. Louis, consider supporting the Wellston Center by dropping off food donations to the Wellston Center. Here’s a list of some items they could use. For those not as close by, find out how you can support the center here.