Several months ago, Shake-Hand decided to move its warehouse, covering 1,900 m2 and encompassing some 6,600
item references, to an automatic storage system (2 x Kardex LR 35). To make sure that the first filling of the warehouse
racks would go smoothly, the company called upon the specialised eff-fill service provided by Jan De Graeve. Eff-fill is
the name of the software package that Jan specially developed for the optimal use of warehouse space.
“To tell the truth, we were not looking forward to the move, but it all went quickly and smoothly”, says Niek Lerou of
Shake-Hand. “Based on our inventory, Jan proposed the most suitable arrangement for the new warehouse, with the
related picking lists. After the move, he also performed a position check with the eff-fill Controller software. Thanks to
thorough preparation, it took us just 1 week to pick, check and input everything into our management system.
And throughout the whole process, we could always rely on clear and open communication from Jan.”

They found Jan De Graeve bvba through the distributor for their warehouse system. The company hired him to help move its rack warehouse to a brand new shuttle system (2 x Kardex Shuttle). William Ruiter explains how the preparation and the move took place. “First, together with Jan, we took inventory of all the items in the warehouse, and then Jan came up with a plan of action. During the move itself, he helped with applying stickers and moving the equipment, before then entering it into our management package. Minor problems were solved then and there. In under 3 days, we were able to ‘go live’ with our new warehouse.”

William Ruiter found Jan’s advice to be highly valuable, he reports. “His help is really welcome, especially if you have never managed a move before. Experience has taught us that external consultants can cost quite a lot of money, relative to the results, but in Jan’s case, it was quite the opposite. He knows how to get the job done and takes a no-frills, highly pragmatic approach.”

“It went flawlessly”, explains Benjamin de Chilly. “Jan uses a good software and he is readily available for help and advice. Based on the dimensions of the parts, our minimum stock and the number of pieces that we order each year, Jan first offered us a proposal for which boxes we should use and how many pieces could be stored in each box. His calculations with eff-fill confirmed that we had chosen the right systems. He then organised the loading of the racks. Each location was determined in advance. Honestly, I think that if we had had to do that manually, we could never have managed it. Or in any case, it would have taken a very long time. There was a slight discrepancy between the initial lists that were provided to Jan, and the final number of pieces in stock, but that was smoothly resolved. We also had two
carousel systems that had to be transferred from fixed to dynamic locations. After reorganisation, there was a double check with eff-fill Controller to see whether all the pieces were in fact in the right place. Filling the racks went without a hitch.”

“Jan was available at fairly short notice”, notes Amélie Daubremé. “He first made an analysis of the warehouse. Based on the data that we supplied on the size and numbers of parts and dimensions of the boxes, Jan used the eff-fill software to create a roadbook for the move. This enabled us to put together our moving teams. Thanks to the reliable roadbook we were able to work efficiently and the move was done within the scheduled time. At the end, there was a double check with eff-fill Controller so that the margin of error was extremely small. The interaction between the teams and Jan was very good and Jan was also very accessible for answering our questions.”

“These two questions led us to Jan and his eff-fill software”, says Michel Huet. “We discussed how we could best approach the preparatory stock inventory. We provided Jan with the inventory lists with all the parameters such as type of part, family and dimensions. On that basis, he proposed the most efficient warehouse layout. The move itself went very smoothly: everything was ready in the right boxes, with the right labels. We were able to just fill the racks without having to think about the best location for each part at the time. The job was done in two days, without any errors or problems. On the third day, the Kardex system and our software were operational. In total we moved 2,309 parts to 65 Kardex shelves.”

“It was in the run-up to that move that we got into contact with Jan”, says Michaël Marchandise. “More specifically for the relocation of our stock, which was on shelves in the old location but would be transferred to two Kardex cabinets in the new warehouse. Jan clearly had experience with this kind of job.

After an initial introduction, he advised us on how to approach the move in several steps. We provided him with our stock list, which he supplemented with additional information in order to be able to accurately locate each item afterwards. Through his eff-fill software program, he then assigned a logical place to each part in the Kardex cabinets, so that we could make optimal use of the available space. All information was entered into our management package and Jan provided handy moving labels and a picking list based on the new locations.”

Jan was also present at the move himself in order to solve any problems on the spot. “But he did much more than that!”, says Michaël Marchandise. “He created subdivisions in the Kardex drawers and gave input where he could. The move went really smoothly and we are very pleased that we brought in Jan. We have already passed his name on to other companies.”

Peter Thienpondt: “Jan had experience with this, plus he has a background in the agricultural machinery sector.
Before the move, Jan inventoried our entire stock in order to waste as little space as possible in the new system.
An aim that we successfully achieved. Later it turned out that by focusing on saving space, the layout of the warehouse was not entirely suitable for our way of working. After all, we don’t look for every piece that we need in the computer, but we also frequently pick parts visually. That’s the only thing we would have done differently, in retrospect: creating groups in our database so that we can sort more into groups in our warehouse as well. That may be less efficient in terms of use of space, but it is easier for our way of working. Conclusion: for the arrangement, we should have taken our working method more into account. I talked to Jan about this, so that he can potentially apply it in new projects. The inventorying and the move itself went very smoothly.”