Liverpool-based ADLIB Audio has spent £250K on revamping and expanding its warehouse, including the addition of a new mezzanine floor, which enlarges the current working space by 500 square metres. “This has enabled us to make massive improvements to the layout, efficiency and functionality of the building” explains ADLIB’s managing director Andy Dockerty.
Business has been so robust for ADLIB over the last two years that the company now has over 50 full time employees at the Speke premises. It was either a case of buying a new building and going through all the associated disruption of moving, or seeing how they could practically maximise the existing space. A decision was made to develop of the existing site — for less interruption to the workflow — and because it also made them think inventively about the design and utilization of the environment.
More office space has been created as a result for sales hire and administration and there’s also room to accommodate future additions to the workforce. The maintenance area has been increased and re-arranged. The storage areas have also grown and been moved to allow easier access to the loading bays.
The preparation areas has also increased in surface area with the addition of at least 50 per cent more space upstairs, offering a vastly improved pre-production facility for different elements of both lighting and sound departments.
The joinery shop — which makes all of ADLIB’s flightcases among other things — has been moved to a completely separate building in a simultaneous expansion. This means that all of ADLIB’s manufacturing operations, including that of loudspeaker cabinets, are concentrated in the same building, and all the rental, hire, and sales operations in the other.
The flightcase-making operation now has its own completely separate manufacturing plant with new machinery. Recent clients include The Prodigy, Lilly Allen, Texas and the Scissor Sisters, and their workload is constantly growing as other people become aware of ADLIB’s capabilities in this area.
ADLIB’s growing lighting department has now been moved from the far side of the complex into the main warehouse. “This will be particularly useful for when we are supplying package deals of both sound and lighting – it makes sense that the two departments become more integrated and work together from the offset,” says Dockerty.