Five-High Pick Modules: Case Elevator Solutions for Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits

Intro

The Challenge SGW&S Was Facing

We deliver the majority of the wine and spirits that you see on any shelf throughout the state of Florida, right through this facility. Al Bovi and his team have provided us a solution for our case elevator, and they’ve also provided me numerous solutions in our racking system. So, we have anything from selective-style racking out in the warehouse to some drive-in structural racking.

Mazzella comes in anytime that I need to add or build out that racking system, or replace damage that happens. In our line of business, we’re going to have some abuse and operator error that really defines what our rack structure looks like.

These guys come in, and they’ll even put the analysis together for me on whether it’s a repair or a replacement. And so, that’s the relationship we have with them.

We’ve been using Mazzella for probably close to 10 years now, racking projects and conveyance projects, not only for us here in Lakeland, but also across the country in several other sites.

We have two five-high pick modules we installed in the warehouse a couple years ago. We needed a way to bring product down off all five levels and bypass the current conveyance system.

Originally, we were having to walk up five flights of stairs, and a guy carrying a 30-pound case down 40 feet is quite an effort. So, from a safety standpoint and ergonomics, we wanted something a little more automated.

We found that with Mazzella. With the lifts, we’re able to bring product down from all five levels and also send returned product back up as well. So, it functions both ways, going down and up.

The Solutions Provided

The final solution has to be based on value. It’s fantastic from Mazzella because they will send us over drawings. They’ll send it over in whatever format we want, whether it’s a CAD format or PDF, whatever makes the most sense for us.

We’ll change the layout, change whatever we need to make it work for our end users. We’ll send that back over to Al and his team, and those guys will look it over and make sure that it passes that engineering test. And as long as it passes that engineering test, now we have a project.

Most of our other facilities, the pick modules are only two to maybe three high. But with this being a really tall, modern facility, we needed something to get product from the five levels.

We kind of knew what was needed, but didn’t know what was the best way of doing it. We’re not looking just to buy stuff, we’re looking for people to help us find the best solutions and the best value for our company.

We try to have a partnership where we work back and forth, creating ideas and solutions. We view it not as just a customer and vendor, we view it as a partnership.

They were there for the troubleshooting process, they trained our maintenance staff on everything, and they also explained to the operators how to use the control system to send stuff up and down.

The Mazzella Experience

Mazzella is absolutely one of the best when it comes to customer service and follow-up. A lot of organizations have a help desk or a work-order ticket. With Mazzella, they’re all reachable, right up to the point where you have the commissioners of the actual project.

They made themselves available for two weeks to a month after they had left the site for any questions we may have.

Those questions weren’t always due to something not functioning right or a breakdown. Those questions may be our ongoing education on how best to use this equipment. And they make themselves available.

I can speak very highly of the Mazzella team.

Closing