Manfredi Cold Storage has expanded its Kennett Square, Pa.-based facility by 70,000 square feet with a Steel King drive-in rack system.
That brings total cold storage space at the facility to 400,000 total square feet of cold storage space, and there are plans for future expansion, according to a news release.
The release said the distributor handles fruit, vegetables and food from 22 countries, stored at between zero and 55 degrees Fahrenheit in a facility that provides retailers with wireless, real-time inventory and access.
With the expansion, the facility employed the use of a rugged drive-in rack system designed for the application by Steel King Industries, Rob Wharry, Manfredi’s facility’s director of operations, said in the release.
“About 150 to 200 truckloads of product move in and out of our storage everyday, about 25,000 pallets, so the drive-in rack needs to be very durable and accessible,” Wharry said in the release.
Wharry said in the release that the company has nearly exclusively used Steel King for the last 13 years because the company makes a very rugged product.
In the most recent expansion, about 4,000 pallets of refrigerated storage capacity were added with the Steel King SK3000 pallet rack, a bolted rack with structural channel columns, according to the release.
The drive-in rack enables storing up to 75% more pallets than selective racks and is ideal for high-traffic and cooler/freezer installations, according to the release. With the system, forklifts drive directly into the rack to allow storage of two or more pallets deep.
Because forklifts can cause damage in a drive-in system compared to other rack structures. The rack must endure potential forklift abuse in material handling due to slick surfaces and cold temperatures that slow driver reflexes and make impact more frequent, according to the release.
