Project Location:
Glanbia Ireland, Fonthill Industrial Estate, Clondalkin, Dublin 22.
Services Used:
Mega coldstorage complex at loading bay height with internal resin floor
Snapshot
Glanbia Fonthill needed to store an additional 400 trolleys of dairy products to cope with the seasonal demands and increase in doorstep product sales.
The company contracted the CRS Group to design, project manage, build, install and maintain a chilled portable cold store complex on site.
The cold store was produced to Glanbia’s specification. A criteria set by Glanbia was that the cold storage unit needed to have a seamless transition from the factory floor, ensuring the non-slip resin type flooring throughout. CRS achieved this by sourcing the exact materials and installing as part of the build.
Project Brief
Doorstep milk deliveries have been on the decline since the 90s, with the traditional milk van deemed an outdated service, complicated by the need for cash collection.
In Consumer Products, Glanbia developed mymilkman.ie. Through the website, or mobile app, customers can now connect directly with a local milkman, order online and set up automated payments.
Since its launch in 2013, the system has revolutionised and reinvigorated the service for customers and milkmen. Milkmen registered for the site have seen their business grown by more than 20%.......
Glanbia needed additional temperature controlled storage which was suitable for rolling around trolleys of stock and would allow their dairy product to be stored in a chilled environment under 3 degrees Celsius.
Challenges
The challenge for Glanbia was to find temperature controlled storage units that could be easily and quickly connected to an existing loading bay so that there would be no slopes or bumps between the existing chilled cold room and the new external cold storage units. The dairy trolleys can be difficult to push around as it is so any ramps or ridges in the floor would make moving these around problematic.
The floor also needed to be washable with suitable drainage points to cope with any milk spillages that are common with thousands of litres moving through the coldstore on a daily basis.
One of the most significant challenges was the very tight schedule to have the new external coldstorage units installed and commissioned before the start of December to cope with the exceptionally high demand around the Christmas period.
Solution
In order to meet the Glanbia’s requirements, the CRS Group proposed various solutions in line with the specific brief. This included graphics, projections and advice on utilising the space in the unit to maximise its storage potential.
The CRS group devised a strategic and competitive pricing structure for this build. Glanbia agreed it was the most cost effective solution for their specific needs, thus signing off on the build.
Once the layout of the coldstore was finalised the CRS group had minimal lead-time to procure the components required to manufacture the 40ft wide x 60ft long super mega coldstore.
A resin type internal floor surface was required by Glanbia as the traditional aluminium tread plate is not suitable for use with the small wheels on the dairy trolleys. The CRS Group installed a non-slip hard wearing floor surface which was installed on site in Fonthill to ensure a seamless flat surface throughout.
The coldstore components were sourced from Europe, and subsequently brought to the CRS Group’s facility in order to modify and assemble them to the agreed design specification. The tight delivery schedule meant that our production schedule had to be ramped up with all workshop staff working additional overtime hours to cope with the additional work at the one of the busiest time of the year in the industry.
The CRS Group included multiple low noise Carrier Transicold cooling units which operate independently of each other and alternate throughout the day to ensure maximum energy efficiency. These multiple cooling units improve the reliability of CRS’s system, ensuring maximum operational ability regardless of outside temperature.
CRS have provided a service contract to Glanbia Fonthill to look after any issues concerning the refrigeration units as they provide both preventative maintenance and call-out support services, reducing the risk of damage to the large quantity of product stored within the mega coldstore
Results
The installation of the custom built super mega coldstore has proven to be a great success, relieving previous storage shortages at one of the busiest times of the year for Glanbia’s operations.
The CRS super mega cold store has been on-site and in operation at Glanbia Fonthill since the beginning of December 2015.
