The BF Autoparts warehouse where it stores spare parts for cars

A forward moving company

BF Autoparts is a French company that distributes car parts of all kinds of brands, both for individuals and professionals. The products can either be marketed through its website or at points of sale.

The history of BF Autoparts is one of improvement. As Jean Charbon, president and director of this company, explains, “in 2016 we unfortunately had a fire in our warehouse located in Romans-sur-Isère.” However, despite the destruction of most of the parts stored at the time, the company benefited from the collaboration it enjoys with its suppliers to ensure delivery of all orders to customers.

After the fire, the company needed a new facility that took into account its specific way of doing business.”On the one hand, this new facility would have to help us distribute products quickly, and besides which, we needed space to house our extensive catalogue of products,” says Charbon.

BF Autoparts has a wide variety of products such as exhaust pipes, brake discs, windscreen wipers, batteries, etc. Therefore, “the shelves had to store a multitude of components of various sizes,” adds Charbon.

Warehouse features

The BF Autoparts warehouse occupies a 1,100 m² area and Mecalux has equipped it with pallet racks, picking shelf modules, cantilever racks and a mezzanine floor. In the words of BF Autoparts’ owner, “Mecalux found a solution that solves all our needs efficiently.”

All warehousing solutions offer direct access to products, which speeds up order prep and also guarantees perfect stock control, as each location is meant to hold the same SKU.

Operators crisscross the warehouse gathering the SKUs for each order right off the shelves. They follow the grouping method, which consists of making several orders at the same time during the same route.

Replenishment is carried out in off-peak hours, i.e., when there is a smaller volume of orders to prepare.

Jean Charbon - President and Director at BF Autoparts
“When designing the warehouse, the Mecalux technical team took into account our observations and needs, as well as our expectations in terms of rates and deadlines. The result is a highly-satisfactory warehouse and one that fully fulfils its purpose. We now have an infrastructure that should enable us to grow and succeed into the future.”

Shelving for picking
The shelves measure 2.5 m high, divided into five levels. These shelves are very versatile, since they include add-ons and accessories to adapt the shelves to the different sized SKUs (from the biggest ones to smallest).

Products with similar characteristics are classified in the same areas to facilitate the operators’ picking tasks.

Cantilever racking
These racks are meant to hold longer and larger pieces. The racks are 3 m tall and consist of columns and arms that jut out for long loads to rest on. These components are easily configurable and can be readjusted to the different types of goods, as well as to the future logistical needs of BF Autoparts.

A 400 m² mezzanine floor
Mecalux has also installed a mezzanine floor that provides a total of two levels of storage. Each floor has been installed with picking shelves. Jean Charbon emphasizes the quality of this proposal, because “it has adapted very well to our warehouse’s dimensions.” It also uses much more of the building’s height to increase the storage capacity.

The two levels are connected together. Staircases have been placed on two sides so that operators can access the upper floor, while hinged handrails were also installed for completely safe loading and unloading of pallets.

Advantages for BF Autoparts

• Efficient picking system: the warehouse is organised according to the characteristics and level of demand of the products with the aim of optimising operator movements and maximising picking performance levels.
• Surface area usage: the racks take up practically the entire space in the warehouse to accommodate all the SKUs managed by BF Autoparts.
• Maximum flexibility: all shelves can be adjusted to the dimensions of different products (either loose parts, boxes or pallets).