Specialists help add 30 per cent more pallet locations
Specialists at Narrow Aisle Warehouses had been able to add 30 per cent more pallet allocations by reconfiguring the designs at the Hinckley warehouse of Buschbeck UK Ltd.
Buschbeck UK Ltd is the UK distributor for the Buschbeck, Camp Chef, Fontana Forni, Sunstone and Outdoor Chef ranges of barbecues, wood fired pizza ovens and other high-end alfresco dining products and accessories.
The company has been operating since 2005 and supplies large multiple retail groups, garden centres and independent retailers as well as specialist online sellers. It also trades directly with the public via its own internet sales channel.
All five brands are stocked and supplied from Buschbeck 's Midlands-based UK warehouse operation. The facility - a 50,000 sq ft unit in Hinckley - has recently been upgraded to a very narrow aisle racking scheme to optimise storage capacity and efficiency. A 'Digital ' Flexi Truck from the extensive range designed and built by Narrow Aisle Ltd.
On the advice of Narrow Aisle Ltd 's warehouse planning specialists the design for the Hinckley warehouse 's new racking scheme was reconfigured substantially from the original plan, giving it an extra 30 per cent more space.
In addition to adding an extra 30 per cent of narrow aisle pallet locations, the revised racking configuration has also created additional space for certain bulk order products to be block stacked prior to dispatch. Both these functions can be carried out by the Flexi Truck with no double handling.
The Flexi Truck in operation at Buschbeck 's Hinckley facility is an electric model. Its unique 'digital steering ' technology uses 20 per cent less energy per pallet move than all comparable models. This means big savings in recharge costs each day.
Narrow Aisle 's Chris Newton, who advised Buschbeck throughout the project said: “It was immediately obvious that Buschbeck would achieve far greater storage capacity if the racking aisles were changed to run the length of the rectangular building rather than across the width of the unit in the way that the original storage scheme had been drawn. ”
“By in-effect 'turning ' the storage system 90 degrees we were not only able to increase the facility 's pallet capacity, but also made more efficient use of the building 's power points - most of which were inaccessible in the original layout. ”
“None of Buschbeck 's forklift drivers had experience of operating a Flexi Truck but after a very short time they had mastered it. In fact, one Buschbeck team member said that he found stacking pallets with a Flexi easier than parking his car! ”
To ensure that Buschbeck derive maximum benefit from their new truck, Narrow Aisle also provided a day 's on-the-job Flexi training.