Project Overview

Teys Rockhampton required a high-density pallet storage system for cold room use, with more than 800 pallet locations.

The system was designed around heavy pallets, freezer and fridge room conditions, forklift traffic and the need to maximise storage in the smallest practical footprint.

For cold room and freezer environments, drive-in racking is often the best solution. Running cold rooms is expensive, particularly when you are cooling a large volume of space. The more storage you can safely fit into the room, the better the return on that cold room space.

Drive-in racking allows Teys to store a large number of pallets in a compact area, while still keeping the system practical for day-to-day forklift use.

Why Drive-In Racking Was The Right Fit

Teys often stores product in fridges, freezers and chillers. Because of that, the racking system needs to deal with a tougher environment than a standard warehouse.

Cold rooms can increase the potential for racking impact and damage because of the nature of the site, the forklift movements and the high-value product being handled. Teys also stores heavy pallets, so the racking could not just be a basic storage system. It needed to be strong, properly engineered and suited to the conditions.

For this project, Macrack supplied an upgraded drive-in pallet racking system rated to 1,200kg per pallet position.

Teys generally prefer a six to seven deep drive-in configuration because it gives them a strong balance between storage density and forklift access. That layout gives them a lot of pallet storage without making the cold room larger than it needs to be.

Custom Safety Features

This project included several additional safety and protection features beyond a standard drive-in racking installation.

Macrack supplied:

• Heavy-duty HH uprights
• Larger gauge pallet runners
• 500mm high entry bollards to each drive-in lane
• 150mm high floor channel runners along the ground level
• Mesh backing to the rear of the drive-in rack
• High-visibility yellow rails and floor guides
• Additional bollards around cold room panels and rapid roller shutter doors

The HH uprights used on this project are 112mm across the front face and made from 2.4mm thick pre-galvanised steel. They were selected because the system needed extra strength and durability for the pallet weights and operating environment.

The floor channels and entry bollards were included to help protect the uprights from forklift and pallet impact at ground level. In a cold room environment, that protection matters as it helps reduce damage, downtime and unnecessary repairs.

The mesh backing was also added to reduce the risk of product falling from the back of the racking system.

Engineered For The Site

Another key requirement on this project was seismic rating. To meet the requirements of the site, Macrack further braced the racking system back to the ground using large turnbuckle-style spine bracing at the rear of the system. This added extra strength and stability to the full installation.

The system was fully engineered and signed off by two engineers, including Teys’ internal engineer. The building maintenance team also reviewed and signed off on the final installation. Even though the system was custom and bespoke, it still went through the engineering and approval process before being handed over.

Installed Over The Christmas Break

Like many large food production sites, Teys is a constantly moving operation. Shutting down space for a racking installation is not simple, so timing was a major part of the job. Macrack completed the installation over the Christmas break to reduce disruption to the site.

To make that possible, the racking was manufactured around a month in advance and sent to site on multiple trucks. The installation was managed by feeding product into the site progressively, which meant racking components were moved in and erected as they arrived.

That allowed the team to keep the project moving without unnecessary delays.

Additional Cold Room Protection

As the project was being completed, Teys also asked Macrack to supply extra protection for the cold room itself.

This included bollards to protect the cold room panels and additional safety bollards around the rapid roller shutter doors. These areas are common impact zones in busy cold room environments, so adding protection helped make the overall storage area safer and more durable.

A Long-Term Teys Storage Partner

The Rockhampton project is one part of a much larger relationship between Macrack and Teys. Across many years, Macrack has supplied Teys with more than 10,000 pallet locations across multiple sites. At the Beenleigh facility alone, Macrack has fitted out several cold rooms, packaging rooms and maintenance storage areas over close to two decades.

Teys continue to expand, and each time they need more racking, Macrack has been able to design and supply systems that suit their product, their sites and their internal requirements.

That has led to what Leo Kanas describes as the “Teys preference” style of drive-in racking: strong, heavily protected, engineered and suited to cold room storage.

Macrack has also completed past work for Teys at Port of Brisbane, where export operations are a major part of the site, including warehouse mezzanine floor solutions.

Built For Heavy Product, Cold Rooms And High-Volume Operations

The Teys Rockhampton project was not just a case of putting some pallet racking in a room and walking away. It had to suit the product, the pallet weights, the cold room, the forklift traffic, the safety requirements and the way Teys actually operate day to day.

That is where Macrack fits in well. We can look at the site, understand what the business is trying to achieve, and then design the racking around that instead of just supplying a standard off-the-shelf system.

For Teys, that meant a heavy-duty drive-in racking system with extra protection, custom colours, seismic bracing, engineering sign-off and installation timing that worked around a busy production site.

It is the type of project where the racking has to be strong, practical and properly thought through from the start. In cold rooms and high-volume storage areas, every pallet location matters, but so does making sure the system is safe, protected and able to stand up to the way the site is used.

Macrack designs and manufactures pallet racking systems for Australian warehouses, cold rooms, production facilities and storage environments. To discuss a custom racking project, call Macrack on 1800 048 821.