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Maybury Helps Portmeirion Handle Dinnerware with Care
When moving your operation to a larger warehouse facility, you don’t always have to start from scratch.
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| To accommodate incoming inventory from New Jersey, Maybury restructured Portmeirion's pick & pack area in just 8 weeks |
In 2007, Portmeirion® USA – the lone U.S. distribution center for popular British dinnerware manufacturer Portmeirion – moved its Connecticut warehouse from a 35,000-square-foot facility in Naugatuck to a 76,000-square-foot one in Waterbury, and they teamed with Maybury to make the time-sensitive transition as cost effective as possible.
“Costs were a major concern,” says Portmeirion USA’s Chief Operations Officer, Salvatore (Sal) Privitera. “We wanted to get settled in our new location in the most efficient and cost effective way possible. Maybury was key in helping put together this move.”
To help achieve this goal, equipment from Portmeirion’s previous location was reused in their new one. Where it was practical, Maybury technicians took down existing rack in Naugatuck and reinstalled it in Waterbury. New Mecalux and Interlake rack was also installed, greatly increasing Portmeirion’s storage capacity. In addition, the existing conveyor was taken down, modified for use in the new facility and reinstalled. Maybury also supplied and installed Product Basics workstations and Packard office furniture. After delivering a new Crown RC truck to the site, the final step for Maybury was to provide the customer’s personnel with OSHA-compliant forklift operator training.
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| Portmeirion’s warehouse was streamlined using tightly arranged rows of Mecalux pallet rack |
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Facilitating this move was just the prelude to the major work that was ahead for this partnership. Early in 2009, Portmeirion purchased two competitive brands. These brands, Spode and Royal Worcester, had inventory in a warehouse in Southern New Jersey. Portmeirion wanted to bring all the inventory of these brands from New Jersey to Connecticut, and the time frame to do this was tight. It was their goal to have storage, packing and shipping facilities ready for the new line in less than eight weeks. Portmeirion considered other material handling companies in addition to Maybury to handle this project. However, Sal Privitera explains, “the thought and care that Maybury put into their plan made the decision to go with them easy. Their competitors’ plans were mostly ‘one-dimensional.’ They didn’t provide the same level of analysis or show us other options like Maybury did.”
Maybury’s Director of Sales and Marketing, Bob Foskitt, explained the pros and cons of all the options to Sal. He also carefully calculated the costs for each option, even breaking them down to cost per pallet stored. After considering their options, Portmeirion decided to follow Bob’s recommendations. “Maybury’s goal was to find the best way to help Portmeirion for the long haul,” Sal explained, “not just to sell something, install it, and then leave.”
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| Portmeirion is a British manufacturer of dinnerware that is popular around the world. Their “Botanic Garden” series has been their top seller for a decade and is now a collectible. Founded in 1960, they will celebrate their 50th anniversary in 2010. Portmeirion® USA is the company’s only U.S. facility, located in Connecticut. Dinnerware and gifts are shipped from this warehouse to major customers such as Macy’s, Bed Bath & Beyond, Neiman Marcus and fine specialty shops. |
The final plan called for 50,000 additional square feet of storage space. Maybury designed the floor layouts and traffic flow pattern. Aisles were reduced in width from 10 feet to 6 feet to improve storage capacity. We designed and engineered all the rack, including a high-density pick and bulk storage area that alone measured 25,000 square feet. Mecalux pallet rack and AWP decks were utilized for this installation. Should company growth require it in the future, Maybury can reconfigure the rack that Portmeirion now has in place into a narrow-aisle system to expand storage space without purchasing new equipment.
The racking installation was performed without disrupting the flow of ongoing daily operations. While placing the uprights for the racking, Maybury personnel had to drill more than 400 holes in concrete. To keep the area clean, they vacuumed the area around every hole after it was drilled. Portmeirion’s Warehouse Manager, Rebeca Caron, noticed, “One thing that really stood out was how ‘clean’ Maybury worked.”
To ensure safety and smooth operation in the new narrow-aisle storage system, Maybury installed a wire guidance system to guide the new Crown turret trucks that we supplied. One conveyor was moved from the New Jersey site to Portmeirion’s location and a second conveyor was called for in our design. The New Jersey line was reconfigured and installed with new packing benches, and the Best-Flex conveyor was configured for use in a truck-unloading application. Maybury Account Manager Andy Lancaster focused on the ergonomics involved in maximizing the comfort and productivity of the packers. He interviewed the workers to find out what they wanted, and why. This resulted in benches that were the proper height, length and width. By custom-welding special support brackets to the benches, Maybury was able to perfectly orient the label printers to the workers.
We took great satisfaction in providing Portmeirion with a warehouse that was of the same high quality as that of Portmeirion’s fine products, especially in such a short time frame. Sal Privitera was pleased not only with our products, but with our people as well. He recently commented, “The people at Maybury, from engineers to installers, are great to work with. They made me feel comfortable with the whole process, from start to finish.”
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