Following the successful fulfilment and delivery of $35,000 of plastic tote containers to Ethiopia on behalf of an international aid agency, Lincolnshire based Raxel Storage Systems tendered for a major adjustable pallet racking project worth £1.1m. After careful evaluation on price, technical ability, past performance and future projects, RAXEL was
awarded the contract ahead of two international storage equipment manufacturers.
The racking procurement contributed to the logistics and storage activities of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Supply Chain Management (SCMS) program USAID is the United States foreign policy assistance agency that works to improve lives in developing countries. SCMS is a USAID-funded program that works closely with the Ethiopian Pharmaceutical Fund and Supply Agency to ensure that the Ethiopian health system is well stocked
and supplied with important life-saving drugs for HIV patients.
STORAGE SOLUTIONS AND ONSITE TRAINING
Apart from supplying 27,000 pallet positions including additional beams and guards to the ten individual distribution sites, RAXEL had to include for tooling and equipment, plus comprehensive onsite training in Addis Ababa for 25 staff from a local
contractor and the customer. Once completed, RAXEL had to ensure that all staff were fully competent in all areas of pallet racking installation and maintenance, based on recognised industry standards and SEMA’s guidelines.
Raxel Storage Systems has an enviable reputation in warehouse system design, equipment supply and installation. They were delighted to be invited to submit detailed costs for the specification supplied by the customer and this had to be split, so that each site could be priced separately and the contract had to include cost for freight forwarding.
RAXEL Managing Director Matt Daniele reported, “To be benchmarked against leading international manufacturers, acknowledges the company’s ability, performance, service and of course our ability to compete at this level.
The coordination of the project involved several meetings with the customer in Addis Ababa and surveying two sites to ensure buildings were fully suitable for the racking installation. RAXEL engineers also advised the customer on unloading and storage of allmaterials and equipment that was forwarded to Djibouti, before being transferred to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.”
Such was the commitment to this project, that RAXEL MD Matt Daniele and an installer manager stayed in Addis to
oversee the installation and onsite training.
Following the successful completion of the installation, Raxel Storage Systems has built an ongoing relationship with UKTI at the British Embassy in Ethiopia and is currently setting up an agent within the country as well as a local installation contractor to undertake future projects.
The Deputy Country Director reported on the success of the project saying, “We are very happy with the quality of the racking, the competitive price and good delivery service provided by RAXEL for our large installation programme in (Ethiopia).
We were also extremely satisfied with the professionalism and on-site training provided by Raxel to our local racking erecting contractor”
