Less trucks, more space a winning combo
October 1st 2007

Five Aisle-Master articulated forklifts are keeping operations rolling at West Midlands based PPE distributor, Protec Direct. The trucks have replaced a combination of reach and counterbalance forklifts and have enabled considerable increases in pallet density and storage capacity at the 50,000ft2 site.

"Increased business last year meant that we were running out of storage capacity and had to rent space elsewhere," says operation manager, Phil Durnell. "We decided to investigate other forklifts that would free up more space in the current premises and cut the need to use multiple trucks too." Seeking trucks with a proven reputation for excellent build quality and reliability led Protec to the Aisle-Master range, designed and built in Monaghan, Ireland. "The quality, price and delivery schedule were all spot on" says Durnell.

The benefits of using the Aisle-Masters add up to an impressive tally: By exploiting the articulated design and capabilities of the one LPG and four electric powered trucks to work in much narrower aisles and tight confines than the reach trucks, Protec Direct has been able to replace bulk racking with more space efficient pallet racking, creating extra picking locations. This has improved storage density by 20 per cent, and has created over 700 extra pallet positions. In turn, this has enabled the provision of more internal storage space. The outlay on rent for additional storage space has also been saved.

The versatility of the Aisle- Master trucks has enabled them to be used in all stages of operations, handling around 800 pallets on a weekly basis. The trucks' proven ability to pick in the aisles as well as to offload and load pallets in the yard makes them universal machines, ready to be deployed around the clock throughout the three shift operation.

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