200% increase in throughput | 20% less labour, with Industore:
A branded Lean-Lift solution (a vertical lift module or ‘VLM’) from Industore enabled warehouse consolidation for Lee Spring, bringing operational gains, futureproofed global growth, and safe, ergonomic, and error-free picking.
Lee Spring is a global manufacturer and distributor of custom and stock springs, with facilities in the US, Mexico, China, India and the UK. When the team at their Berkshire facility faced an ageing warehouse, limited space, and increasingly inefficient manual picking, they made the strategic decision to relocate operations to a new, purpose-designed site in Rochdale – with a view to consolidate, modernise, and support the company’s global ambitions.
Warehouse Consolidation with Warehouse consolidation with vertical lift modules:
After reviewing several potential providers of vertical lift modules and particularly, those specialising in warehouse consolidation, Lee Spring appointed Industore as their preferred supplier for a complete, integrated vertical lift module (VLM) solution, built around Hänel Lean-Lifts. Industore was chosen for our hardware – and proven gains in performance, accuracy, and space-saving, but also for the strength of Industore’s ongoing local support and customer-first culture.
Image right: Picker at Lee Spring collecting an order from Industore's Vertical lift module (VLM) - The Lean-Lift System.
Warehouse Consolidation with Industore:
“Other suppliers were offering overseas support or subcontracted engineers. Industore’s wholly UK [and Irish] based service and rapid response times made the decision simple. They could tell me who my local engineer was, where he was based – and we got to meet him. That really added confidence to Industore’s solution. In the end, Industore weren’t just the right choice – they were really the only choice – and I’m still confident to say that, a year on.” – Lucy Hargreaves, Logistics Manager, Lee Spring UK
Video case-study: Warehouse Consolidation with Lucy Hargreaves
Integrated Vertcial Lift Modules for True Warehouse Consolidation:
Industore’s commitment was evident long before installation. From day one, the team collaborated with Lee Spring to calculate volumetrics, visualise the proposed layout, and even ship a Hänel controller to Lee Spring’s US HQ – enabling the group’s software engineers to begin integration trials before purchase. The collaboration extended beyond logistics, with Industore’s marketing team working closely with Lee Spring’s US brand and marketing leads; to deliver a fully customised, standout solution – from aesthetics to performance.
At the heart of the warehouse consolidation are three Hänel Lean-Lift units meeting the full facility height of 9 metres. Thanks to their exceptionally dense vertical footprint, these VLMs replaced over 15,000 sq ft of racking – spread across two sites – and consolidated it down to just 4,000 sq ft of high-performance automated storage. That’s a 75% reduction on floor space! To support 100% picking and packing accuracy, further optimising fulfilment, Industore worked with Lee Spring to integrate handheld barcode scanners into their process.
Each location inside the Lean-Lift is clearly identified by both the MP14 controller and LED pick-to-light strip, guiding the operator to the correct area on a shelf. As a further check, when the picker arrives at location, they use the handheld device to scan a barcode related to that location. Only once the handheld scanner confirms the match, can the picker proceed. This allows very similar parts to be stored together (where the logic dictates that), without risking mis-picks. The correct item(s) is then packed at a nearby station, thoughtfully located adjacent to the Lean-Lifts.
The facility layout was developed alongside Lee Spring by Industore, using our experience in our self-coined phrase: “architectural logic”. This is our workplace design principle that considers flow, safety, efficiency and more. Once packed, the integrated WMS (warehouse management system) produces a label for the item or wider order, which is scanned again, marked as ‘complete’, and the picker is instructed to move to the next item of orders. While perhaps sounding long-winded, this process has become second-nature to Lee Spring employees since the warehouse consolidation, and even the slowest-moving items are now picked in under 20 seconds.
20,000 Items in 3x Vertical Lift Modules (VLM)
– From 10 orders/hour to 30
– With headcount reduced from five to four
– up 10% following the move from manual to automated picking
– Consolidating two sites and centralising all fast-moving parts
– with a 7% increase in warehouse capacity
Lucy Hargraves again::
“We’re seeing genuine buy-in. The team absolutely love their lifts. They’re safer, more ergonomic, and make daily life easier. There’s no lifting heavy boxes from the floor or stretching to high racking anymore – everything is presented at waist height, exactly where it should be. It’s made us safer and more efficient, but it’s also really driven employee satisfaction – and that’s so important to us at Lee Spring.”
As part of the rollout, Lee Spring opted for Industore’s Complete Service Plan, which includes full annual servicing, engineer visits, diagnostic reports for audit compliance, and priority support. Perhaps more than anything else though, what became a critical part of the decision-making process – was Industore’s Expanded Safety Bypass (ESB) feature.
Lucy Hargraves on importance of reliability in vertical life modules:
“Same-day dispatch is our USP at Lee Spring. All our fastmoving inventory is now stored in these three Lean-Lifts. Industore helped us split the stock, so that there’s not a single point of failure, but the truth is, if a system goes down, even for a few hours, the operational impact could be huge – not to mention the reputational risk. The ESB feature ended up becoming a key part of our decision. If something goes wrong – for example, were a light curtain damaged somehow – the ESB ensures we can continue operating safely. Even though our local engineer is just 20-minutes away, ESB means we won’t grind to a halt, even for that 20-minutes, and that’s what buying from both Lee Spring, and Industore is all about. The extra mile.”
With shelves still only partially filled, Lee Spring has ample capacity to grow – something built into the Industore plan from the start. Thanks to seamless integration with Lee Spring’s existing WMS, remote shelf-calling, and directed putaway, the team is already benefiting from weekly optimisation runs. These routines automatically reposition fast-moving lines closer to the access point, helping maximise productivity and maintain high throughput.
As Lucy Hargreaves concludes: “There was no steep learning curve. Everything was simple to understand and just sat right on top of our existing systems. The reporting is now even better than before
– giving us greater data, and empowering us to make better decisions, and, ultimately, a more efficient operation going forward. This has also positioned Lee Spring UK to be the blueprint for our global sites. We quickly proved the value of the Lean-Lifts – and Industore’s support. From sales and software to servicing and branding, the experience has been exceptional. It’s been a pleasure dealing with them. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Industore to any business, in any sector, considering automated storage and retrieval systems, or even those who just recognise the need to enhance operational performance and so on. The value they’ve added has been extraordinary.”
Your warehouse consolidation project:
Whether you’re consolidating multiple sites, or recognise the need to upgrade or entirely transform your set up – there’s no substitute for seeing vertical lift modules it in action. If you’d like to visit Lee Spring’s new, consolidated warehouse facility, tour another one of our exemplar customer sites, or visit one of our demo centres to find out more –
