Refrigerated warehouse makes every doorway count

With annual sales of $5.7 billion, Golden State Foods (GSF) is one of the leading diversified suppliers to the restaurant sector, serving more than 50 customer accounts in more than 25,000 restaurants on three continents. GSF’s new 152,670-square-foot regional headquarters and logistics center in McCook, Ill., includes ambient, refrigerated and freezer storage at heights up to 40 feet and uses crossdocking.

In the high-volume, 24/7 facility, turns in the cooler happen twice a day and in the freezer, inventory turns occur every day and a half. With traffic streaming in and out of the building through 47 dock doors, losing a single high-traffic door could severely jeopardize deliveries.

“If a cooler door is down, that could be detrimental to our operation,” says warehouse manager Jamie Marines, who notes that a single inoperable door could cost 30% of shipping capacity. “We cannot afford to lose an opening. We are hard on things, and that’s why we need durable doors.”

Nine insulated doors (Rytec,) offer high-cycle operation at 100 inches per second, allowing the 16-foot door panels to open fully in less than 2 seconds. Reductions in air infiltration have contributed to an estimated 40% energy savings. Fast door speed also reduces the likelihood of panel collisions with tall-mast forklifts. In the event of a collision, the self-repairing system automatically resets the panel back into its guide without human intervention.

To avoid accidental contact with door panels, an LED safety light system along the door columns warns employees when the door is about to close and when it is actually closing. Two photo eyes, a dual-pneumatic reversing edge and threshold warning lights will reverse the descending door panel if an employee is in the doorway.