Warehouse and Manufacturing Area Expansion
C.B. Fleet Company Inc., Lynchburg, VA
C.B. Fleet Company of Lynchburg, Virginia, is a leading manufacturer of feminine hygiene and other consumer products for the healthcare industry. Growth in the company’s business had resulted in full utilization of available manufacturing and warehouse space at its 223,000-square-foot Lynchburg plant, making it necessary to use inefficient overflow warehousing offsite. Anticipating continued sales growth and the addition of new manufacturing processes, warehousing capacity studies were performed and facility and site master plans presenting facility expansion options were developed. Those efforts identified the need for a building expansion of 56,000 square feet. The expansion provides manufacturing space for powder production, bottle decorating, blow molding operations, and warehouse space for storage of raw materials, packaging supplies and finished goods. HSMM provided complete industrial engineering, facility design, construction administration, and construction onsite project representative services for the $3.1 million, 56,000-square-foot plant expansion. In-plant modifications required to support the new layouts, material handling concepts, and process flow were also included.
The project provided a new finished goods warehouse for storage of Class III commodities and small quantities of Class II combustible liquids, along with new storage racks and accessories, double-reach lift trucks, battery charging systems, and order-picking equipment. All of these items were designed and specified by HSMM. The storage systems selected for both the new and renovated warehouses consisted of the following:
- raw materials storage in floor stacks and in new 2, 3 and 4 high double-deep, selective and drive-in racks to eighteen feet in height
- finished goods storage in new double-deep 4, 6 and 7 high racks to twenty-six feet in height
Important considerations in the warehouse design included:
- maximizing the space available for storage,
- sequencing the construction to minimize disruption of existing operations,
- utility relocations and tie-ins within the area of new construction
- double firewall separation between the new and existing construction to meet insurance underwriter requirements, and
- in-rack sprinkler systems.
Within the manufacturing areas of the plant, the following items were among the more significant design considerations:
- compliance with FDA requirements for pharmaceutical facilities,
- explosion proof construction including blast doors, explosion venting, and conductive-non-sparking seamless floor systems, and
- air filtration and temperature, humidity and pressure control of the spaces.
As part of its industrial design services on the project, HSMM prepared a Warehouse Operations Manual. The Manual described the procedures for operating the new warehouse and provided Fleet with a plan to achieve an orderly transition into the new facilities.
