Boom time for carpets
June 1st 2010

Attachments to handle rolls of carpet

helps Atlet boost warehouse efficiency at

Allaince Flooring Distribution in

Kidderminster

Alliance Flooring Distribution has significantly improved

materials handling performance at its main warehouse

in Kidderminster by working closely with lift truck

supplier Atlet. Storage capacity has been maximised and the time

products spend on site before delivery to customers has been

minimised. The fleet supplied by Atlet includes eight reach trucks

with special booms to handle rolls of carpet around the

warehouse in a highly efficient and well-organised operation.

"We have been impressed by Atlet's approach," says Nigel

Wilkes,Warehouse Manager at Alliance Flooring Distribution.

"They've done what they said they would and, two years into the

contract, the service has been excellent."

Atlet representatives visited Kidderminster to discuss the

requirements and suggested a week-long loan of a reach truck,

temporarily equipped with a carpet boom, so that the warehouse

staff could carry out a proper evaluation. The drivers liked the

truck and the Atlet team met them to gather feedback and

arrange some modifications. This included fitting holsters for

hand held barcode scanners and clipboards at convenient

positions in the cab. As the existing trucks came to the end of

their individual lease contracts they were replaced by eight Atlet

UHS reach trucks with an identical specification that helps to

promote driver familiarity and simplify maintenance.

"The Atlet sales staff have been extremely professional and

have looked after us very well," says Wilkes. "One of the problems

we had with the previous supplier was that the salesman didn't

stay in touch after the original sale until the lease was nearly

finished.With Atlet however we have regular contact and we

know they really care about what we want."

Steel boom

The reach trucks are used to handle four and five metre carpet

rolls weighing as much as 450kg to heights up to 10m. A special

steel boom mounted on the truck's modified carriage is inserted

into the centre of the roll which is then handled between special

deep-racking storage and order assembly areas. Alliance specified

a tilting carriage as this made it easier to control and position

loads in this particular type of application than the alternative of

a tilting mast.

One of the features on the Forte UHS reach truck that

particularly appealed to Wilkes was the S3 Stability Support

System. This automatically provides higher truck stability by

governing speed and acceleration in conjunction with steering

sensitivity. S3 automatically reduces the speed of truck functions

in proportion to the height lifted, overrides unsafe manoeuvres

and reduces jerkiness in the manipulation of the controls.

"We had an issue with the previous trucks and when we

mentioned the new ones had the S3 system to the HSE they were

impressed," says Wilkes. "It's a good safety feature."

Alliance also likes the ergonomic features on the trucks

including mini steering wheel, tilting seat and push button

controls because these help prevent unnecessary twisting when

driving. Drivers on afternoon shift in particular do a lot of work

and need to read labels on carpet rolls, use their scanners and

read paper notes as well as operate their truck to make sure

deliveries are despatched on time.

To complete its original fleet Alliance selected three Nissan

electric counterbalance trucks, supplied by Atlet, for loading and

unloading vehicles. These trucks, which also have special boom

carriages, have shorter masts than the reach trucks which allows

them to work in the loading bay and inside the vehicle bodies

and containers used for shipping carpets to customers.

The business has grown and Alliance now offers wooden and

laminate flooring which can be transported easily in the spare

space on its transport vehicles. Packs of laminate are stored in a

separate area of the warehouse complex in three bays of

conventional racking. Alliance selected an Atlet OPM man rising

order picker so that items can be picked from any location for

complete flexibility with maximum utilisation of the available

space. This was the first truck of this type used by Alliance and

for simplicity the company trained a dedicated operator to use

it.

Batteries for the trucks are changed in strict rotation for

balanced utilisation using Atlet's Space Track system. The

discharged battery is hand winched off the truck directly onto a

free charging position. The truck is then connected to the

appropriate fully charged unit and repositioned so that the

battery can be pulled onboard

using a mobile hand winch.

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