Client Success Stories

Lineage (FKA Oxford Cold Storage)

Oxford Cold Storage (Oxford) is a family-owned business that has been providing cold storage services to Australian manufacturers since 1975. Oxford was the largest Australian privately owned cold storage complex. Oxford offers racked storage for over 300,000 pallets at temperatures between +18°C & -29°C. The facility has the capacity to freeze 12,000 cartons and carcasses daily.

Requirement

RTS has worked with Oxford since 1994. As one of RTS’s larger users, Oxford utilises a large suite of RTS products and services. Oxford opened their Freezer 11 extension in August 2006. The expanded freezer now accommodates storage for 52,000 pallets under one roof. This has increased the capacity of the Store 11 facility by 40% and total site capacity by an extra 20%.

The Challenge

The existing narrowband RF network infrastructure needed to be upgraded as the physical size of the building and more than 70 RTS terminals exceeded the parameters of the old narrowband system. With the addition of extra data capture terminals into the environment, the old system would have been pushed beyond its capacity. Oxford undertook this exercise to ensure service levels could be maintained.

How We Tackled The Problem

RTS upgraded Oxford’s wireless network to a 54MB CISCO wireless LAN and the RTS narrowband terminals to spread spectrum compatible. The warehouse management system was also upgraded which included a GUI front-end and a new host computer with the latest versions of Linux and Oracle. An additional 20 new RF terminals were supplied.

Within two days of Store 11 going live, Oxford management noticed a significant increase in productivity which resulted in a higher turnover of pallets from the dock into the freezer. This was facilitated by the increased speed of the new wireless network.

Oxford has now decided to roll the technology out across the rest of the business due to the success of the Store 11 upgrade. The network will cover all temperature controlled storage areas which have a total capacity in excess of 110,000 pallets and utilise in excess of 150 RTS RF terminals.

This has enabled the Oxford business to derive significant productivity gains now and into the future. RTS is always looking for products to assist the Oxford business. For example, RTS sourced a forklift impact sensor for Oxford which did not fully meet Oxford’s requirements. RTS then developed its own to best meet the needs of the industry and Oxford’s requirements.

The IMS1000 and IMS2000 products have been vital to Oxford in helping to reduce forklift and product damage. The IMS products easily stand up to the harsh environment which they are subjected to each day, whilst ensuring the highest level of occupational health and safety is maintained on the forklifts.

The Results

RTS has now provided Oxford with a number of robust solutions to many technically challenging requirements. Oxford can rely on suitable RTS supplied equipment that withstands the harsh environments that they are subjected to.

RTS has supplied Oxford with a secure wireless infrastructure which will fulfil the company’s requirements, both now and into the future. RTS continues to work very closely with Oxford, who are both owned and operated by the Oxford Logistics Group. This relationship enables Oxford to constantly achieve their goals which are driven by the aggressive growth of the business. To date, Oxford has found RTS to consistently deliver solutions on time and on budget.

Equipment withstands harsh environment.

RTS has a great knowledge of its products and product capabilities. We are a logistics company, with evolving product requirements. RTS has developed a great understanding of our business and our operational requirements.

Paul Fleiszig