Energy Savings

Case Study – Laser Transport, Johannesburg

In 1998, Barpro installed 3 cantilevered Storax mobile bases in the Midrand warehouse of AGS Frasers International, the International Removals Group. This was a first for Barpro Storage SA and special care was taken to make sure that all types of cars could be accommodated in the 84 positions.  In 2011 it was decided to move these bases to a bigger warehouse, lengthen them and add an additional three bases. Fixed racking was also installed to increase the storage capacity to 312 cars. While the original cantilevered Storax bases can carry cars of up to 7m long and weighing 2500kgs, the new racked bases supplied by Acrow Racking & Shelving have a bay pitch of 5600mm. The carrying weights are the same. The cars drive onto skids which are then put away in the racks by a 3.5ton counterbalance forklift. They are stacked on three levels in the warehouse.  The then logistics manager, Cullen Smith, stated that working with Barpro has been a pleasure from the outset and that Barpro delivered on time and within budget. He said, “The newly designed mobiles have added value to our product offering and streamlined our operations.”

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Price vs. Value

“There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price alone are that person’s lawful prey” – These words have been widely used in recent decades, and are usually attributed to nineteenth century thinker John Ruskin. (although there is no evidence to suggest he ever said it). An expanded version goes on to say: “It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money – that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot – it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you would have had enough to pay for something better.” This basic rule should be common sense, but surprisingly often isn’t.  Mankind is at heart a race of bargain hunters.  We shop around in hopes of paying less, and usually finish up getting less.  Purveyors of cheap goods and services bend over backwards to avoid the terminology ‘cheap’, since the obvious connotation is ‘nasty’.  So they say ‘lower price’, or ‘inexpensive’ . . . but what they mean is ‘cheaper’.  And what you mostly get is less value. How does ‘cheap’ relate to value? Usually negatively. In economic terms value is the monetary worth of something, and ‘worth’ in turn can be measured in many ways.  A product or service that well performs the function for which it was designed, reliably and demonstrably long-term, will always contain more worth, or value, than that which is designed from the outset to cost less – but probably not perform so well, or last so long. Nowhere is the foregoing more true than in the case of mobile racking. Barpro SA prides itself in providing genuine value-for-money with its offering, and after more than twenty years and well over 200 STORAX systems in South Africa alone – most of which are still functioning as well as the day they were commissioned  – Barpro SA has an enviable and unequalled track record of designing and installing durable systems, and boasts a multitude of satisfied customers. If someone claims the ability to provide equivalent systems , but cheaper – beware and re-read the above.   Remember the rule of thumb is that “you get what you pay for”.

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Is oxygen reduction a viable alternative to sprinklers in cold and freezer stores?

Sprinkler systems in cold and freezer stores are problematic and expensive. If a sprinkler head is broken accidentally, ice builds up on the floor before the water can be turned off. Mobile racks cannot be moved until the ice is cleared. Frozen product which has been soaked by sprinklers should not be sold. If a fire occurs close to the cold store floor, it has every chance of being well established before the sprinklers activate. Even if the fire is put out, product is smoke damaged. As prevention is better than cure, the OXIT system from FX-Prevent in Holland decreases the air’s oxygen content from the normal 19.5% at sea level until there is insufficient oxygen for a fire to start.  In most cases employees can continue to work inside the freezer room.  Oxygen sensors keep the air composition constant by feeding in additional nitrogen when required.  Oxit systems for cold stores on the Highveld would have to take the increased altitude into account. So, could oxygen reduction systems be a safe and cost effective alternative to sprinklers?  We look forward to your views. You can read more here: www.fx-prevent.com

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