Pets at Home selected inotec UK for an important contract to complete the line marking, infill walkways and floor painted meeting areas of their new 670,000 sq.ft fulfilment centre in Staffordshire,  UK. This is a significant investment for Pets at Home, one of the UK’s leading pet care businesses. Located on a 70 acre site at Stafford North Business Park, this modern, purpose built fulfilment centre centralises distribution for the company by combining three warehouses into one superhub. For distribution purposes, it occupies an ideal geographic location close to Junction 14 of the M6.

The Stafford DC is highly automated. It has been designed to support future growth for Pets at Home and maximise the company’s omnichannel capabilities. More than 800 people will be employed at the site, sustaining local jobs in the area.

An innovative partner

Ben Ainsworth, Site Services Contract Manager for Pets at Home, was responsible for awarding inotec the line marking project. He explains, “I first saw inotec at a trade show about seven years’ ago and I thought it was an innovative company. I was impressed with the way they use an ultra violet clear topcoat which is cured on top of the line marking paint. This process makes a massive difference, enabling the finished surface to be very hardwearing to withstand even heavy traffic conditions.

“Initially I asked inotec to complete a line marking contract for us at the Pets at Home DC in Stoke on Trent. This was six years ago and it was quite an expensive outlay at the time, but it still looks good today and we’re not having to redo it every six months. They also helped me out at another facility where I’d used a local company to put down some line marking which hadn’t lasted five minutes. Julian Rushbrook from inotec gave me a quote and quickly sorted it out.”

Highly effective teamwork

Ainsworth continues, “For this much larger project at Stafford, we didn’t need to go to tender, I was confident to just go back to inotec. It’s a significant investment for us, but you can’t put a price on health and safety can you? It is essential that our busy colleagues can easily and safely navigate their way through the large fulfilment centre and the infill walkways make the pedestrian routes absolutely clear.

“As a company, inotec is very easy to work with and their employees are straightforward too – there’s no nonsense, Julian gave us a detailed quotation for the work with everything marked up so we knew exactly what we were getting. Also the team who come from inotec to carry out the internal line marking are working with you rather than against you, and for us that’s really important. The supervisor looking after the team, Stuart, was impressive too.

“The company offered paint in any colour we wanted so we used Pets at Home solid green for the infill walkways with yellow tram lines. The two designated meeting areas are also painted green with yellow borders. We even have a black and white pedestrian crossing inside the DC. There’s a large area on one side of the facility for parking all our material handling equipment – we have around 30 forklift trucks. This area has been line marked by inotec in a herringbone pattern using white paint with yellow tram lines for walkways. We’ve now been working with inotec for seven years and I know that I can rely on them to just get on and do a good job for us.”

Ultraviolet cured line marking from inotec – a highly visible and safe option

The ‘Rapidshield’ line marking paint system used by inotec UK results in a hard, highly durable surface with a projected lifespan of five years even in an environment with heavy traffic.
A clear topcoat is cured instantly onto the paint using a high powered ultraviolet light. This process reduces downtime as the paint surface dries within 1-2 hours and areas can be handed back within a working day for immediate use. The finished surface is easy to clean and remains brighter and more visible for longer than a traditional paint system.