History will record Dyson's emergence as one of the 20th century's most phenomenal industrial success stories. As producers of the bagless, Dual Cyclone vacuum
cleaner, Dyson established its own manufacturing plant at Chippenham in 1993, when sales were a modest £ 2.4 m. Today, worldwide sales are £ 320 m, and the company has
54% of the UK market by value.
|  | Make it fast
In the new factory at nearby Malmesbury, which now employs 1,300 people, such remarkable growth demanded new storage solutions. "Originally, we used static drive-in racking,
but it was too slow. We clearly needed to hasten the operation since nearly all our goods are fast moving," comments Dave Coleman, Dyson's procurement manager.
Best return on investment
Various storage solutions were considered, but pallet flow storage proved the best solution based on its handling capacity and space savings and, therefore, the return on
investment. The new Interroll flow storage system comprises of a block of roller conveyors set in racking 17 lanes wide, two pallet levels high and 26 pallets long. Each pallet
level can take two stacked pallet loads, giving a top storage height of about 5.5 metres and a total storage capacity of 884 Euro or GKN Chep pallets.
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| | Using resources efficiently
Efficiency gains of the current pallet flow storage included trebled throughput and double the storage capacity compared with the previous storage arrangement. All this was
achieved without the need to invest in extending the existing facility. Throughput is 670 pallets a day, or 8,000 vacuum cleaners, and all pallets move in and out over two days
based on a 15 hr, two-shift day. The pallet flow storage has also meant improved lorry turnround times. "Before the Interroll investment we were taking 1.5 hours to turn
lorries around," explained Coleman. "Now it takes just 30 minutes." Maintenance is another asset, since no regular maintenance is necessary. Not least of the
benefits, perhaps, is the safer and less damage-prone method of handling compared with the replaced drive-in racking.
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