Barton Fabrications, Portishead, UK, has delivered two 50t capacity aluminium silos to the Skelmersdale site of Sanko Gosei Automotive Systems. The storage vessels, each 3.5m x 12m high, have saved considerable warehouse space and significantly reduced raw material costs. They are being employed to store polypropylene granules used in the company’s automotive parts moulding processes and replace flexible packaging and octabins previously used for transit storage. The silos have been fitted with load cells and a telemetry system. This allows real-time visibility of stock levels and usage by both Sanko Gosei and the raw material supplier, which in turn simplifies inventory management.

 

James Bradley, production engineering manager at Sanko Gosei commented: “The decision to install two storage silos has allowed us to save significant warehouse space. Additionally, we have reduced both forklift truck movements and the need to dispose of plastic storage sacks and cardboard octabins. We have also lowered direct materials costs by buying in bulk and our surcharge/transport costs are less.” www.bartonfabs.co.uk 

 

 

The two Barton silos at Sanko Gosei’s site