Less is more

Like for like replacement of forklift truck fleets is rarely an ideal solution. Although a few may find their incumbent supplier offering a tempting deal for a straight swap to shiny new kit, the products are unlikely to be an exact match for the tasks required of them. Instead, most materials handling equipment suppliers offer to assess your business operation, crucially mapping both its current and future needs, before coming up with an offer that delivers the right products for the right price. As contract hire periods have extended from three to five and even seven years, the right products may look very different indeed to those supplied first time around. These days, materials handling equipment boasts features – some standard, some optional – that can enable it to be used inside and out, in warehouse aisles and around production lines, delivering true multi-tasking capabilities and meaning that one vehicle can now perform functions that previously demanded two vehicles or more. An all-rounder that is proving ever more popular is the articulated truck. There's been a surge of interest in this type of truck over the past couple of decades. The best known of these are probably the Flexi and the Bendi – brands that both arguably enjoy being the 'Hoover' of the articulated truck market. These two articulated very-narrow-aisle types are manufactured here in the UK: the Flexi in Tipton, West Midlands, by Narrow-Aisle; and the Bendi in Redditch by Translift Bendi, which claims to be the UK's first manufacturer of the articulated truck. Yet we needn't necessarily turn to the quirky all-rounder to secure the right type of truck with built-in versatility. Manufacturers of more conventional equipment are at pains to point out that design advances mean that certain equipment has wider uses than might at first seem obvious. Toyota's counterbalance product manager Dave Rylance says, first things first, the most important element is a detailed insight of the customer's needs which may entail thinking out of the box: "In line with our cultural value of kaizen and continuous improvement, we encourage customers and our internal teams to look at every operation – including replacement trucks – with fresh eyes and understand what the trucks may be required to do throughout the business. It is only through gaining this understanding that our sales team can look for the best trucks, specification and combination to help customers to be productive and drive down costs, often through the reduction of units." This could involve using equipment such as tow trucks, which until recently have been the workhorse of automotive plants but are now gaining in popularity in other sectors: "We have applications in manufacturing where customers have replaced forklift trucks in certain areas of the business with a tow tractor which can transport multiple loads, reducing the number of trucks, reducing forklift traffic and reducing costs," he says. As Rylance points out, however, it's not only the core truck design that helps versatility: "There are options that can help trucks to be more flexible. For example, quick release hydraulic couplings for attachments on counterbalance trucks can allow a quick changeover – such as bale clamp to standard forks – enabling one truck to be used in different areas of the workplace." So, let's look at some manufacturers who have found that, when it comes to truck fleets, less can indeed be more. For Rotherham-based manufacturer Thetford, it was a combination of attachments and radical truck change that brought the business a smaller fleet of multi-purpose equipment. Part of the global Thetford group, which makes equipment for the leisure industry, Thetford's UK operation makes cookers for caravans, as well as hobs and sinks. Until earlier this year, the 150-employee business operated from two units across the road from each other. The decision to move to a single, larger facility in Rotherham meant it could review its handling and storage procedures and, along with that, the materials handling equipment. IT co-ordinator Matthew Paget and safety, health and environment co-ordinator Dean Howson headed up the project to replace the reach truck and four counterbalance forklifts. Howson says it was vital to find a solution that wouldn't waste space in the new site: "The 3m-4m aisle widths needed for our old trucks would have swallowed up the additional footprint of 10,000 sq ft, leaving us with no increase in storage capacity." Paget adds: "We needed trucks that we could use indoors, outdoors and in narrow aisles, too, as we've gone to a narrow-aisle configuration in the finished goods areas and in stores." The Thetford team consulted local dealer CAM Fork Lift Trucks, which recommended the Aisle-Master articulated truck, manufactured by Aisle-Master in Monaghan, Ireland. CAM took the team to a site in Sheffield where the Aisle-Masters were in use, so they could see them in action and try them out. Decision made, Thetford took delivery of three electric 2-tonne capacity Aisle-Masters. "Two are on a six-year deal; one other has been supplied on a 12-month flexible contract so we can decide whether to extend that," says Paget. Racking from the old sites has been laid out in the new 73,000 sq ft facility to suit the Aisle-Masters – aisles are now narrower, resulting in more available pallet spaces. The trucks pick to heights of 6m, but can go higher and Thetford plans to install higher racking to maximise space in the future. The trucks unload components on arrival and place them next to the production lines, before moving finished goods to the racking and high level bulk store. From there, they are used to pick orders and load delivery vehicles. However, Thetford's client base requires differing load and packaging types, presenting further challenges for product handling, so one of the trucks has been fitted with double-deep forks for picking up awkward packs and stillages. "We need to handle some unusual, odd-sized products," explains Paget. Many cookers are destined for caravan manufacturers; others for caravan accessory stores. "Some companies buy cookers from us and they want us to supply in reusable packaging. They're not always on standard pallet sizes so we needed the extensions to enable us to handle them better. Depending on the customer, the packaging is different. If the cookers are going to a shop, they will be in a box. But caravan manufacturers want them to arrive on a pallet so they can just unload and install straight into the caravan. They then send the specialised pallet back to us and we refill it." Operator training has been straightforward: most require one day's teaching to gain the necessary accreditation. "This is an ongoing project and one that has been challenging at times," says Howson. "From day one, the Aisle-Masters' abilities have enabled us to factor in future growth and have been well worth the investment... We have an efficient handling system in place with reliable trucks that do everything we want, anywhere we need them." Two notable fans of the Bendi articulated trucks are Redditch-based Heartbeat Manufacturing and Ensinger of south Wales. Firstly, to Heartbeat, which designs and manufactures display units for big-name retailers. Heartbeat has used Bendi trucks since 2005, so when it bought a new warehouse recently, it knew where to turn. "Before we started to use the Bendi, we had a mixture of reach and counterbalance trucks," says warehouse manager Bob Cave. Back then, he considered VNA to boost storage capacity, but this would have called for additional trucks for use outside. "After a recommendation, we contacted Bendi and haven't looked back since." The latest Bendi truck for the new warehouse, also in Redditch, enables Heartbeat to manage up to 3,000 pallets of varying shapes and sizes. "The initial attraction of the Bendi was undoubtedly the amount of extra pallets we could accommodate in the warehouse and the fact that it operates equally well outside, loading the vehicles. But we also had to consider the load types we handle," he explains. With goods destined for customers in the UK and overseas, some of which is bespoke design, the warehouse has to hold different sized loads including Euro pallets. "The Bendi gives us this option without having to worry about losing valuable space or causing damage to products or racking," adds Cave. Engineered plastics business Ensinger, meanwhile, is using a Bendi Longloader at its site in Tonyrefail, south Wales which has maximised space and improved handling versatility. When Ensinger decided on a strategy to hold more stocks of building profiles, it needed a specialist handling solution for the long loads. Counterbalance trucks had been used for 20 years, but the addition of a new warehouse meant these were no longer viable – standard counterbalance trucks would need aisle widths of 7m to manoeuvre the profiles. A Bendi Longloader was the answer: this enables Ensinger to operate with 2.4m aisles, though they could have been even narrower. Key to the decision was the Bendi's ability to transport regular loads as well as the long loads, so reducing the number of trucks required. Lastly, to contract manufacturer Universal Products (UPL) of Kirkham, Lancashire, which has found that one reach truck can outperform two trucks. The company, which makes pharmaceutical and personal care products for blue chip clients, has used Linde trucks for several years to move up to 3,000 pallets every week of raw materials and finished goods. When the time came to replace two of the trucks, UPL had to make a decision: counterbalance or reach truck. It could not afford both at the same time. However, local supplier Linde Sterling suggested the R14G reach truck: its drive unit suspension and large tyres enable the truck to be used outside for loading and unloading, but the design also means it can work within the warehouse, storing and retrieving goods in narrow aisles. Andy McKenna, warehouse and materials controller at UPL, reports: "The new truck has not only saved us the cost of a second machine, but also means that operators don't have to keep switching trucks. This saves us valuable time and gives us great flexibility." UPL's fleet of Linde equipment ranges from powered pallet to electric counterbalance trucks, many of which are owned by the company and are gradually being replaced on a contract hire scheme. "For us, it's more beneficial to not own the trucks outright. This way we relinquish all the service issues, giving us total peace of mind," adds McKenna. Automation for the masses Very-narrow-aisle (VNA) systems were, for many years, the preserve of the major warehouse facilities. But more and more companies can reap the space-saving rewards of this type of layout, thanks in part to the development of scalable automation, says Steve Richmond of Jungheinrich UK. Richmond heads up the forklift manufacturer's systems and projects division. The company has developed automated and semi-automated VNA products, based on a standard truck design – delivering greater flexibility to a wider customer base. "It's straightforward to adapt production line trucks to become fully automated," says Richmond. "We can start with a standard VNA truck with wire guidance and transponder technology and, by introducing additional sensors, controls and an interface to the warehouse management system, the truck becomes fully automated." Trucks can be supplied as manual machines, and upgraded to semi- or fully-automated systems as requirements change. "This approach makes automation scalable," he adds.