Maintenance issues also favour the ITS system. Maintenance of the old ITS system was extremely easy and for 10 years it needed very little. ITS has supplied 1,800 overhead trolleys but the system can hold 3,320. This means it can store 800,000 garments, nearly three times the nearby store, and process up to 500,000 garments a week. This minimises the wasted walking time.
Operators can save yet more time by calling up empty trolleys with their RDTs.
Garments arrive at the centre in conforming trailers backed onto one of two dedicated goods inwards bays, which have two extending overhead boom conveyors to save unloading time. The clothes then proceed on their trolleys to a goods inwards buffer for checking and labelling for a putaway location. Once labelled, trolleys find their way up to their relevant aisle on the three storage floors connected by inclining conveyor. Operators will then unload them onto ergonomically-designed static storage rails which have four different storage heights for various garment lengths. ITS has, for example, arranged the aisles in a loop with access in at one end.