Our Client
Texas Door Manufacturer

Success often brings its own challenges. W.W. Cannon’s client, an industrial door manufacturer out of Fort Worth Texas serving thousands of dealers nationwide, had grown from their original 6,000 square foot warehouse to the present 100,000 square foot facility. This growth was driven by strong discipline, hard work, integrity, great products, and the tireless efforts of employees and management.

The Challenge
Add Space – without Adding Space!

This exponential growth prioritized the need to increase product storage space without permanent expansion. Their first call? W.W. Cannon –

“They’re a long-time customer of W.W. Cannon, so they were familiar with the high-level quality of solutions and service we provide. They knew exactly who to go to for exploring solutions to their space problems,” said Greg Brown, Owner/President of W.W. Cannon LLC.

Recent growth drove an increase in parts necessary to supply the company’s production process.  They were running out of storage space and needed a custom solution which would increase their storage capacity without taking up valuable space.  Another challenge? At 88 inches high, they had a unique storage requirement for their palletized equipment. In order to store efficiently, they not only needed the height requirement satisfied but needed space accommodation for a five-deep pallet system – in an industry where three deep is more common.

“We were asked to provide a dense storage module system that would provide a lot more product storage capacity – without our client having to invest in more real estate,“ Brown said.

The Solution
Adding Storage Density & Efficiency in the Same Amount of Space

When choosing a high-density storage system, the discussion usually starts out on the lower end of the price range with drive-in rack.

Brown continued, “But with drive-in racks the product has to be the same – floor to ceiling, front to back. That wouldn’t work for this client.”

W.W. Cannon’s recommended solution? Design and install a custom pushback rack system. A pushback rack system contains a pair of inclined rails and a series of nesting carts which ride on these rails. This allows palletized goods and stored materials to be gently pushed back further into the bay providing deep storage at each rack level. Upon retrieval, stored materials are allowed to flow back down the rails to the front of the row.

Standard forklifts only have to load/unload from the front of the rack, not into the rack itself such as a drive-in/through system requires. With a pushback rack the product flows to the forklift, providing more density and flexibility.

“You can have five products deep in the same lane, so you don’t have to have as many SKUs stored per bay compared to a drive-in rack system,” Brown said.

W.W. Cannon’s proven problem-solving process:

• Worksite consultation – to discover needs and identify product specifications
• Propose a best-practice solution – in this case, pushback rack system
• Solution is engineered and quoted, including a conceptual drawing
• Client review and approval, then on to full engineered drawings
• Manufacture the system customized to unique requirements
• On-time delivery to the worksite
• Setup by W.W. Cannon professional, experienced installation team

“Then hand them the keys and show them how to use it!” Greg said.

The Result
More Density and Efficiency – and the Price was Right!

The client started using this system immediately after installation, with vastly improved efficiency, more space, and safe handling of tall pallets. A very cost-effective way to gain square footage in an existing facility.

Brown concludes: “I think there are a lot of people who aren’t just looking for just a system – they want someone who can implement a solution for them. That’s what we do. We develop the solution, set it up, and guarantee it will work.”

To speak with us directly, call us at 800-442-3061. We’re ready to help you with the best-practice solution for your needs.