Innovation Associates, Charleston, SC

As a pharmacy solutions partner of the Veterans Administration (VA), Innovation Associates provides a standardized workflow and operations management hub, dispensing technologies, and high volume systems to dozens of sites both in the US and abroad.

Recently, the Veterans Administration decided to relocate one of its seven distribution centers where they currently manage 26.4 million prescriptions for veterans. Innovation Associates was looking to maximize the 92,000 square foot building where they would be setting up this new distribution center.

Innovation Associates reached out to us to help provide a solution.

Working with a design provided by their architect, The Mezzanine Company provided Innovation Associates with a proposal for a 4,000 square foot mezzanine that would serve their needs. The mezzanine included a u-shaped IBC staircase for employee access.

The mezzanine included a cutout to work around some existing electrical conduits along a wall that the mezzanine butted against. Additionally, the mezzanine's column placement was custom designed to workaround the machinery that would be placed underneath, according to the plans.

The mezzanine included a safety pivot gate in order to provide access for a fork lift to load materials on and off the mezzanine. In order to be able to load materials onto the mezzanine from an outside room, we designed a cantilevered loading area that went through an opening made in their existing wall.

Once the proposal was accepted, approval drawings were created and a project manager made a site visit to make the final design adjustments, and coordinate the layout and positioning within the existing building column grid.

When production of the mezzanine was completed, we arranged for a prompt delivery, so that the installation could begin. The mezzanine was installed by our local installer, as planned, and on time, with minimum interruption to the rest of the work happening to setup this new distribution center.