Innovation in shelving
December 1st 2004

Link 51’s new Stormor system has been developed to meet the ever more sophisticated demands for flexibility and aesthetics in the shelving market. Charlotte Stonestreet visited the company’s Brierley Hill manufacturing facility to find out more

Although its head office is now located in Telford, storage equipment specialist Link 51 originally started out in Brierley Hill.

Today, the company is made up of three divisions – pallet racking, shelving and lockers – with the shelving division still based at the first site.

Over the years the Brierley Hill factory has remained true to its roots and tended to maintain traditional manufacturing methods. Today, however, like any modern production facility, many of the processes at the site are automated to some degree.

In fact, the facility has recently been the subject of significant investment with the launch of the company’s new shelving system.

Shelving portfolio

Prior to the official launch of the Stormor shelving system in September this year, Link 51 offered a dozen different ranges in its shelving portfolio. With so many shelving products on offer, it may surprise you to learn that this was the company’s first major launch in this market since 1987.

‘We have added many products to our shelving portfolio, but this has tended to be as a result of acquisition rather than developing new products from scratch,’says Keith Evans, Link 51’s sales director.

Although having so many ranges to choose from might seem like an advantage, according to Evans, this wasn’t always the case. Sometimes it would be difficult to advise on the best solution because, each of the ranges was strong in some particular areas.

As the shelving market has developed, customers’ expectations have become more complex.

‘Now customers’ needs are for more flexibility, especially when you are dealing with big organisations,’ says Dave Buller, Link 51’s publicity manager. ‘Many businesses today need to be flexible and as a result often need to be able to change the storage to match that.

‘With our old storage range we could provide them with a great solution, but then if we were called back at a later date because the customer needed to alter the use of the system, we’d often have to recommend a different range. What we have created with Stormor is one product that we believe, with its inter-changeability, answers everybody’s needs, including any possible changes in future use.’

Constant change

In fact, the Stormor range has been developed specifically to match the ever more sophisticated demands of the shelving customer. Unlike the pallet racking market, which, says Buller, does not offer much opportunity for development, the shelving market is undergoing constant change and is totally different to the sector served by Link 51 20 years ago.

Complete solution

‘There is a great understanding amongst our shelving customers of what they are looking for in terms of solutions,’ says Evans. ‘For example, it is no longer just a case of us providing six bays of shelving – these customers want to make sure that the design actually fulfils their requirement fully. It may require doors, pull out drawers, hanging rails for garments, or even filing.

And we have to be sure that we fully understand what they’re looking for to enable us to provide that complete solution.’ At the heart of the Stormor system is a series of standard upright sections – Solo, Duo and Mono – that accommodate clips and fittings in various pre-formed slots.

Located appropriately in each individually designed shelving solution, these uprights support shelving on both sides using a simple clip. With the Duo upright, a solid panel provides an aesthetically pleasing finish to the internal face and is simply held in place by the shelves themselves.

Using the simple clip system, users can then specify from a wide range of fittings, all of which are completely interchangeable. This allows each Stormor installation to be specified and then adapted to meet the precise installation requirements, ensuring a precise match with the exact needs of each market sector.

Integral to the Stormor design is the use of strong, thin sections that have, according to the company, been shown to create up to 7% additional storage space in any given installation when compared with alternative systems. Available in standard light grey, or in a range of colour options, all units are also manufactured for maximum strength and durability.

Optional fittings

The optional fittings include shelving, pull out drawers and filing shelves, lockable doors and garment hanging facilities. The concept has also enabled the introduction of new innovations such as vertical dividers, which can be either full height between shelves or half height.

These can be fitted on either side of a shelf to match the type and weight of material being stored – a particular advantage in applications requiring document storage.

It is features like this that will, Evans believes, enable Link 51 to fully service the more commercial sector of the market. ‘We feel that with the way the market has evolved and now the way that we have evolved, we are able to make exciting new inroads into the more commercial side of the sector,’ he says. ‘With our old range of products, we weren’t adhering ourselves to the commercial world as closely as we now can.

‘Of course we still offer some of the old products and it is very important that we continue to serve our existing client base, something we can also do with the Stormor range,’ he concludes.

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