Collaboration and flexibility for British Gypsum’s automated warehouse

We have been providing integral software solutions to British Gypsum’s Barrow-upon-Soar plaster production plant since 2008. British Gypsum is the UK’s leading manufacturer of interior lining systems and part of the Saint-Gobain group. The company has more than 100 years’ experience in plaster, plasterboard and ceiling solutions with five main manufacturing locations in England.

The Barrow-upon-Soar facility remains one of the largest and most technologically advanced plant of its kind in the world. The site underwent a major expansion that was completed in 2002 to meet growing demand for its specialty product, Thistle plasters.

We were initially commissioned to facilitate the automation experience, particularly the PLC code and hardware, to operate the impressive fully automated high bay cranes. These cranes have more than 8,000 pallet locations and turn over product in 48 hours to support a fast-moving supply chain.

The modular flexibility of our integrated software solutions eventually convinced British Gypsum to upgrade to the warehouse control system (WCS) module. Subsequent technology upgrades, including Wi-Fi, laser positioning technology and onboard cameras, made it possible for us to introduce the innovative ‘Remote Control Station’ to the British Gypsum operation.

Based on our standard solution and enhanced in collaboration with British Gypsum engineers, it combines camera technology with remote manual operation of the cranes. This has dramatically reduced the number of interventions on the cranes which require working at height. The productivity gains together with health and safety benefits are truly impressive.

According to Bruce Fisher, project manager at British Gypsum, the choice for our WCS solution was evident:

One of the main reasons we chose [this solution] was the degree of collaboration, flexibility and support that they offer. There have been several cases where this has been put to the test and each time [they] have delivered. We are very much looking forward to the next phase of development with them."

We place high value in customer relationships and Andrew McKaig, the managing director, states:

“[We are] very pleased to have British Gypsum as a long-standing customer and WCS user. We are working hard to ensure that we deliver the highest quality of product and customer service to British Gypsum and look forward to continuing the partnership for many years to come.”