'We combined the lessons we learned from our European facilities with some new ways to handle our pallets and maximize flow through,' says Jim Leddy, manager of warehouse establishment for IKEA, the Swedish furniture firm. 'Now it has become the model for the future.'

Leddy is speaking of IKEA's new distribution center in Tejon Ranch, Calif. A number of materials handling technologies are applied at this DC. Conventional lift trucks along with reach trucks are used to handle pallet loads in receiving and shipping. These forklifts also interface with shuttle-powered conveyor lines feeding a high-bay rack storage area.

Flexibility is one hallmark of this DC. Forklifts and other materials handling technologies for unit loads have to be capable of working with both Euro pallets and extended IKEA pallets. Both pallet types are stored in racking.

Use of lift trucks together with the shuttle conveyor is a factor in helping to crossdock products for greater productivity in the DC. Running at full speed, the facility expects to crossdock some 25% of all receipts. Items in the day's processing waves or those expected to ship in four days can be crossdocked.

Tejon Ranch's receiving area is laid out so that an incoming trailer can be assigned to one of thirty receiving docks so as to minimize the internal travel distance to putaways in storage. On the opposite side of the facility to receiving, there are 36 outbound docks. Lift trucks service these docks, too.