Everial: efficient management of more than 360,000 boxes at its Lyon document centre

Experts in comprehensive document management

Everial is a French company specialising in document management for more than 4,500 public and private entities, as well as small- and medium-sized companies or multinationals in all sectors and activities. It has more than 20 centres strategically located in Spain, France, Switzerland and Monaco. From there, it supplies all its services to clients, including the collection, storage, custody and retrieval of documents.

In Lyon (France), the company has a records storage centre considered to be the largest in Europe. In total, it occupies an area of 78,000 m² and more than 7 million boxes with countless confidential files are securely stored there.

To manage this volume of documents efficiently, the centre has been divided into thirteen warehouses, one of which has been equipped by Mecalux. According to Laurent Pouillaude, director of file management at Everial, “we needed a solution to optimise storage of our clients’ paper-based files, and we felt that Mecalux’s proposal met our needs.” The warehouse occupies 3,200 m² and contains racks with walkways that make up five floors. 360,000 boxes are stored on them.

Around 2,000 different SKUs are managed in this warehouse. Every day between 25 and 30 pallets are received from Everial customers in the Rhône-Alpes region (east of France). About 60 orders per day are also prepared, composed of a maximum of 20 lines.

To control this movement of goods and avoid errors, each document is uniquely identified with a barcode. This way they can be located more easily when needed. In addition, their distribution throughout the warehouse is random, which guarantees the confidentiality of the files.

Laurent Pouillaude - Director of Everial Records Management
“Mecalux is a well-known company in the supply of storage solutions, so we relied on their experience when it came to finding a solution for our needs. The technical team’s proposal offered us many advantages, as well as a very competitive price.”

Warehouse features

The racks are 13 m high and 67 m long, i.e. they occupy almost the entire available warehouse space cin order to accommodate as many documents as possible. On the racks, there are walkways or elevated aisles that make up each of the five floors (actually, there are four floors plus the ground floor). “With this solution, we have multiplied the storage area fivefold,” says Laurent Pouillaude.

These racks have a marked simplicity, while also helping to manage documents very quickly. The reason is they provide direct access to the products, which facilitates storage and picking tasks. Operators need only approach the applicable slot for easy product insertion and removal. “This was essential to our business, as we give customers the ability to receive the documents they request in less than 24 hours,” Pouillaude points out.

Each floor has an assigned number of operators. They are in charge of walking along the aisles collecting the documents that make up each order directly from their slots. This way of organising their work has maximised throughput in picking tasks and, ultimately, in the installation as a whole.

Security of the installation

This automated warehouse holds a large volume of invaluable documents, so their protection is essential for Everial. “Mecalux met our needs in terms of materials and security systems,” explains Laurent Pouillaude. The centre is equipped with an advanced fire detection and extinguishing system.

Automatic fire sprinklers have been placed throughout the racks depending on the fire load (according to the fire risk presented by the different areas of the warehouse). These sprinklers only act directly on the affected area when necessary.

Moreover, both the racks and the walkways that make up each level's floor are perforated, which facilitates the draining of water between the levels.

Advantages for Everial

• Optimal use of space: the racks with walkways multiply the useful storage area, providing capacity for 360,000 boxes.
• Maximum protection: the centre has automatic sprinklers strategically located throughout the racks that act on the affected area if necessary.
• Easy goods management: the racks provide direct access. This helps with inserting and removing documents into and from their slots with ease.