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New storage at Hume

The previous warehouse facility

The new shelving and pallet racking system at Hume

The Hume Annexe, which primarily provides off-site stack storage to house part of the National Library of Australia's collection, also has warehouse accommodation that is used by Sales and Promotions for storing publications and merchandise produced by the Library.

Sales and Promotions staff have welcomed the recent operational changes that have taken place at the Hume Annexe warehouse as a result of the installation of a new pallet racking system.

While the former warehouse facility served Sales and Promotions well for many years, the outsourcing of the distribution of Library publications to NewSouth Books in 2007, merchandise to Mackay and Gerrish in 2008, and the implementation of the Library’s online shop in 2009, has seen demand for our product increase to the point where the publishing program now operates on a commercial basis. Today, you can find Library books and merchandise in more than 1100 retail outlets nationally, including the National Library Bookshop, while international customers account for approximately one third of orders on the Library’s online shop.

With this growth in sales, larger print runs have been undertaken, resulting in savings through economies of scale while simultaneously reducing the unit cost per item. Yet, with these benefits, it became increasingly apparent that the storage facility at the Hume Annexe could not adequately accommodate the new business practice and distribution arrangements and that changes had to me made if the publishing program was to continue to expand.

The warehouse contained narrow shelving which was ill-suited for storing large quantities of stock and, given the overall size of the warehouse, it did not maximise the available storage space. Also, because it could only store a limited number of pallets, it was necessary for all stock to be delivered first to the Library’s loading dock for receipting in and then from there, taken to the Hume Annexe where the stock was manually transferred from the pallets to the shelving. This process was not only labour intensive, it was also time consuming and involved considerable double handling and manual handling of stock.

With the installation of the new pallet racking system and the purchase of a Walkie Stacker to locate the pallets on the racks, the storage capacity of the warehouse has been significantly increased and the operational processes for receipting in and storage of stock have been streamlined. A total of 170 pallets can be stored in the new facility, with capacity to introduce further racking in the future if required. Deliveries are now made direct to the Hume Annexe with Sales and Promotion staff being contacted by the haulage contractor prior to arrival at the warehouse. A staff member meets the contractor at Hume and the stock is offloaded and transferred to the warehouse floor for counting and receipting, before being placed on the pallet racking.

Sales and Promotion staff had already participated in manual handling training sessions prior to the installation of the new pallet racking system, however additional training, including an induction course for use of the Walkie Stacker and a St John senior first aid course, has been undertaken to ensure the safety of staff members is maintained and that best practice in the operation and maintenance of the new equipment is upheld.

The new storage facility has not only enabled more efficient and cost effective processes to prevail, it has also made life easier for staff members because it is less labour intensive and has reduced significantly the time spent manual handling stock.  These benefits and others were made abundantly clear with the recent end-of-financial-year stock take at Hume when the count was undertaken in a quarter of the time that it used to take and with greater ease and accuracy. These changes have made the Hume Annexe warehouse a safer and more pleasant working environment.

Maureen Brooks
Manager, Sales and Promotion