Real World Stockrooms #2: Car Dealership

Here we take another look into the realms of a real world stockroom to see how exactly it is being used, this time at a prestige car dealership.

The variety of service and repair parts that automotive businesses need to keep on the shelf is quite considerable, having the right storage solution is definitely key to running an efficient operation.

This particular car dealer uses E-Z-Rect Trimline shelving throughout the immediate access area of the stockroom. In here the most frequently requested items are kept close at hand, enabling the service desk operators to quickly serve their customers.

The Trimline system is perfectly suited to this kind of task, slim steel shelf supports reduce wasted space to the absolute minimum without compromising on shelf capacity. Each shelf level is easily able to cope with, for example: a full compliment of 1 litre oil bottles (as shown above). The E-Z-Rect framework is so strong, every shelf can be confidently loaded to the maximum, making the most of the available space.

The modular design and adjustability of the shelving mean that the stores manager can quickly and easily re-profile the racking to suit changes in the stock holding. Extra shelves can be added at any time without disturbing the existing levels and installation is super easy thanks to the simple 2 beam shelf support system.

Peg boards with prong hooks have been used on walls and on most rack ends to store those awkwardly shaped items that do not stack well. This solution gives drive belts, wiper blades and gaskets a practical storage location in what is normally an unused space. The rack end peg boards also have the added benefit of blanking off the shelf ends to help retain stock.

Another solution popular with automotive businesses uses louvre panels and plastic picking bins instead of boards and prongs to give greater bin storage capacity.

If you look closely you can see that this dealership uses quite a lot of cardboard storage bins on the shelving. These boxes are available in a wide variety of sizes and are primarily used here for storing nuts, bolts and other small car components. The lightweight bins are easy to remove from the shelf and take over to the counter, this way small fixings like screws and washers can be counted out on the work surface or simply shown to the customer - without fear of dropping individual items on the floor.

The less popular and bulky items are kept in separate store room that is not as easy to gain access to but does offer more storage space.

Here a selection of widespan shelving is used in back-to-back layouts, providing storage space that can cope with irregular shaped items like bodywork, long pieces of trim and exhaust systems.

Every business has different storage requirements, if you are considering how to improve your current stockroom situation, or if you need some help setting up a new stores area for your business please call us on 01993 779494.