Dematic design team driving innovative storage solutions

A group of structural engineers at Dematic are transforming the mature Australian storage industry, developing innovative, new solutions that offer greater cost-efficiencies, safety and performance in virtually all types of storage applications.

Dematic’s structural engineering team is headed up by one of Australia’s leading experts in rack design, Dr Murray Clarke. Formerly a Senior Lecturer in Civil Engineering at the University of Sydney, Dr Clarke’s specialty is cold-formed steel structures.

Other members of the team include structural engineers Dr Paul Berry, Dr Lip Teh, Dr Demao Yang and mechanical engineer Stephen Celati.

Dematic manufactures the comprehensive Colby range of storage equipment, which is available nationally through the Colby Storage Solutions distributor network.

Dr Clarke said the lack of any new standards in Australia concerning racking for the past 10 years meant the Australian storage industry had fallen behind many other parts of the world when it came to storage system design.

“There has been a lot of R&D activity in the global storage equipment market over the past few years, particularly in Europe. Because of the lack of local initiatives, we actively participate in number of overseas groups including the world’s leading authority on storage system design, the Federation Europeenne de la Manutention (FEM).

 “FEM’s racking standards represent the state-of-the-art in racking design, and allow designers greater flexibility to improve the structural efficiency, cost-effectiveness, performance and safety of storage systems,” he said.

Following several years’ intensive R&D, Dematic’s structural engineering team has implemented a number of innovative Colby storage solutions in recent times including:

• Wider, stronger and more rigid rack Uprights
• New, low-cost, high performance Sigma Beams
• Lower cost Mezzanines/Raised Storage Areas
• Smart High-Rise rack solutions
• An ultra heavy-duty beam for high throughput and heavy pallet warehouse applications
• A totally new type of Drive-In Racking system
• Advanced rack protection systems; and
• Sophisticated new rack design software.

Wider, stronger and more rigid rack Uprights

With an increasing number of storage applications requiring greater load carrying capacity and higher safety levels, Dematic’s structural engineering team has developed wider, heavier-duty uprights.

The new 125mm wide and 150mm wide uprights are made from high tensile steel up to 3.5mm thick. They provide significantly higher levels of performance than the previously available 110mm wide upright, which was made from up to 3mm thick steel.

The wider, stronger uprights are suitable for use in a variety of applications including the new Colby Drive-In Racking system, which utilizes fewer larger and stronger components; for Euro-style high-rise, narrow aisle installations, AS/RS racking, and for cost-effective Mezzanine/Raised Storage Area solutions.

New low-cost, high performance Sigma Beams
The new range of Sigma Beams developed by Dematic’s structural engineering team are based on an open C-section design, manufactured from high tensile galvanized steel.

Unlike conventional beams, which are welded to end connectors and fit between uprights, the continuous Sigma Beam is bolted directly to the front face of the upright, eliminating the need for end connectors in many applications.
Manufactured in transportable lengths up to 12m, enabling a single beam to span several bays, the Sigma Beams provide direct cost savings of more than 20% compared to conventional beams.

“The Sigma Beams provide greater dimensional accuracy and, because they are bolted to the front face of uprights, rather than between them, they eliminate the problem of rack creep, which occurs with conventional beams in longer runs of racking,” said Dr Clarke.

Lower cost Mezzanines/Raised Storage Areas
Another application for the new low-cost Sigma Beam is its use as floor joists and primary support beams in Mezzanines/Raised Storage Areas. The structurally and cost-efficient Sigma Beams can span up to 5m unsupported, which reduces the required number of supporting structure components by approximately half compared to traditional rack supported floors, said Dr Clarke.
“This provides substantially more open area under the floor for greater flexibility in both the type and layout of equipment, and significantly reduces the cost of the installation,” he said.

Smart High-Rise rack solutions
Companies in Australia who wanted a high-rise, automated storage system were faced with the choice of making do with scaled up locally available selective racking, costly and time-consuming imports from Europe, or very expensive structural steel solutions, said Dr Clarke.

“Now, however, with our new Uprights and Sigma Beams, we can provide significantly enhanced load-carrying capacity and structural integrity for high-rise systems up to 40m high,” he said.

“The result is a high-rise storage solution that is directly comparable to those available from Europe, at a much more competitive price.”

Ultra heavy-duty beam for high throughput and heavy pallet warehouse applications
In response to customer requests for a more robust beam for high throughput warehouse applications in which beam damage is commonplace, the structural engineering team has developed a new, patented beam made from 2mm thick high tensile steel. Through smart beam geometry and the incorporation of stiffening ribs, the new ultra heavy-duty beam offers significantly higher levels of impact resistance than conventional beams.

“The response to this innovation has been tremendous with several customers opting to pay the small pricing premium for the substantially higher levels of performance and safety,” said Dr Clarke.

Safer, stronger, lower cost Drive-In Racking
The new Colby Drive-In Racking system is the result of three year’s R&D and represents a step change in the way Drive-In Racks are designed, said Dr Clarke.

The result is a totally new, modular and highly configurable Drive-In Racking system, which utilises fewer larger and stronger individual components including wider uprights and deeper frames, for greater load carrying capacity, better structural integrity and improved performance at a lower cost.

Dr Clarke estimates the new Drive-In system will deliver most customers savings of up to 25% compared to other Drive-In systems.

Space utilisation can be optimised with the new uprights allowing pallet runner height adjustments in 50mm increments, and new single-sided cantilever brackets even allow for different pallet levels in adjacent bays, further improving storage flexibility and versatility.

 “By designing our new system from the ground up, and by using stronger components, we have also been able to redress some of the OH&S issues traditionally associated with Drive-In Rack,” he said.

“Our floor channels feature a tapered lead-in portion to help guide the forklift truck into the aisle. Also, damage to the rack from forklift impacts can be mitigated by fitting patented Colby Protect-a-RACK upright protectors to the aisle-side uprights.”

Advanced rack protection systems

“Even the best forklift drivers have accidents,” said Dr Clarke, “and because impact damage weakens racking, creating the potential for collapse, it pays to take whatever steps are practically possible to minimise the potential for damage and any resulting injuries.”

Designed to be fitted to just about any type of racking, the internationally patented Colby ProtectaRACK outperforms traditional steel and plastic rack protection systems through its innovative design and ease of installation.
Manufactured from heavy-duty 4mm thick plate steel, the Colby ProtectaRACK simply slips over and is bolted directly to the front face of a rack upright, eliminating the need to install additional masonry anchors in the floor.

Colby ProtectaRACK substantially increases the impact resistance of the rack upright by spreading and transferring any forces from an impact to the rack frame bracing, the strongest section of the rack, improving safety and reducing on-going rack repair costs.

The unit’s compact design, and the fact that it bolts directly to the upright, also makes the Colby ProtectaRACK more space efficient in terms of maximising the clear bay entry than other rack protection systems.

Sophisticated new rack design software
An on-going project for the structural design team has been the development of its exclusive RACKMAN rack design software, said Dr Clarke.

RACKMAN utilises finite element modelling and second order analysis to rapidly develop designs, which are fully compliant with AS4084-1993 or FEM 10.2.02.

“Once the basic design parameters are established, we can now very quickly establish the effect different rack configurations or the use of different components can have on the overall system performance, enabling us to give customers immediate feedback,” said Dr Clarke.

“RACKMAN also enables us to verify designs and provide our customers with Certificates of Design Compliance for all Colby racking systems.”

Dr Clarke added: “As a team we are all very proud of our design work, but to make sure we are delivering the best possible quality for customers, we also have many of our designs proof-checked by some of the country’s leading professional engineers at Cardno.”

Summary

The majority of ColbyRACK componentry is manufactured at Dematic’s advanced rack production facilities in Sydney. The state of the art facility incorporates the latest advances in roll forming, punching, painting and welding technologies.

Extensive local and international testing of Colby storage products ensures world-class quality, long-life performance and the lowest lifecycle cost.

The University of Sydney Centre for Advanced Structural Engineering, and a leading European authority on racking systems, the Institut fur Schweisstechnik und Ingenieurburo in Darmstadt, Germany, perform extensive testing of ColbyRACK componentry to establish key structural performance parameters and proof-test our own results, said Dr Clarke.

For more information, please contact Murray Clarke:

murray.clarke@dematic.com
Ph. 61 (0) 407 891 451