History

The construction of high-bay systems depends on the use of specially processed cold-rolled sections. Owing to their weight, inadequate tolerances and design form, the hot profiles typically used at this time in Germany were not suitable for high-bay warehouses.

At the start of 1968, KOCHER finally found what it was looking for on the European market: a cold-rolling mill willing to roll and work the required profiles according to specific static calculations. The profiles were based on strip-galvanized hot rolled strips.

Completely new for Germany was the use of cold-rolled profiles in building construction work. Following much arduous work and numerous trials, structural engineers were finally convinced that this construction method would pass the requisite testing.

In order to automate high-bay systems – the first silos were controlled automatically using punched cards – these buildings required profiles processed to hitherto unprecedentedly narrow tolerances.

Special level anchoring needed to be developed in order to compensate for the inaccuracies of the floor slab. This was achieved using expansion anchors with threaded rods or hammer head screws. The rack footplates were erected on precisely levelled adjusting screws and tightened with lock nuts. The space created between the foot and floor slab was grouted with non-contracting mortar, which also needed to be developed for this purpose.

This new construction method also required many other detailed technical solutions.

As an example, a satisfactory way needed to be found of laying the pipes for the sprinkler installations – disconnecting the joints and not laying more horizontal rods.