Leading fruit and vegetable wholesaler Wealmoor has specified Stertil Stokvis products at its brand new factory in Atherstone on Stour, Warwickshire. The factory was rebuilt following a devastating fire two years ago and Stertil Stokvis was asked to install twelve new loading docks in a £120,000 project.

The Wealmoor project involved a range of Stertil Stokvis equipment, including dock shelters, dock levellers, bumpers and a number of insulated Thermadoors. Stertil Stokvis was consulted at an early stage in the rebuild process, so that the company could fully evaluate the operation and ensure that the right loading bay solution was proposed.

Wealmoor's busy loading bays receive bulk deliveries from farms all over the world and despatch orders daily to all the UK's main supermarkets. Each loading bay handles a huge variety of vehicles of different heights and lengths therefore the Stertil Stokvis equipment needed to be both highly versatile and extremely robust.



At the Wealmoor site, Stertil Stokvis supplied and installed a series of WL 574 dock shelters featuring lightweight yet sturdy 'collapsible' aluminium frameworks. These shelters are supported by XF 4020 dock levellers incorporating telescopic lips that can be precisely controlled for accurate positioning onto the rear of the vehicle deck, so that vehicles can be fully loaded or unloaded by pallet truck. Each platform is made of a single piece of high-tensile steel plate, rather than welded sections, giving maximum strength-to-weight ratio and retaining flexibility to reduce deckplate distortion. An extra-long steel chamfered leading edge reduces the impact on wheeled loading trucks.

The Thermadoor, with its high levels of insulation, is a particularly sound choice for energy-conscious businesses or those handling temperature-sensitive products. Supplied by Stertil Stokvis from the company's popular range of industrial doors, Thermadoors are widely used for both loading bay doors and level access doors owing to their reliability, aesthetic appeal and superior insulation properties.

Stertil Stokvis's interchangeable PE dock bumpers can last four times as long as regular dock bumpers, providing excellent value for money. In regular use, the bottom inside corners of bumpers are frequently damaged. To overcome this problem, the company's PE bumpers can simply be repositioned 'upside down', presenting a new corner in place of the damaged one; the left and right ones can then also be swapped once the new corners have incurred damage.

"During the rebuild of the facility we wanted to ensure we specified high quality, durable equipment suitable for a broad range of vehicles," explained Mick Rogers, Wealmoor's Engineering and Facilities Manager. "We knew of Stertil Stokvis by reputation and they also came highly recommended by our architects. The success of the installation has proved convincingly that we made the right choice."

Wealmoor was established 40 years ago and has become a market leader in the packing and wholesaling of fresh produce, supplying all the major UK supermarkets.

Stertil Stokvis is a market leader with 50 years' experience in loading bays and dock areas and has an international reputation as a specialist in its field. The company focuses on quality and safety, both in design and production, to ensure years of trouble-free operation, even in the most rigorous operating conditions.