A company synonymous with high quality, ultra-efficient products, Narrow Aisle has earned a reputation for exceptional product reliability and customer service across the world and the company’s Flexi range of articulated fork lift truck-based of intralogistics solutions maximise storage, handling and customer order assembly efficiency across the supply chain.
John Maguire Commercial Director, Narrow Aisle UK and a former chairman of the UK Warehousing Association, spoke to Warehouse & Logistics News.
Warehouse & Logistics News: It has been well documented that warehousing facilities are in short supply. Is the lack of good quality warehousing space driving demand for your products?
JM: There are a huge number of existing warehouse buildings across the country constructed and equipped over the last 25-30 years. Due to the enormous changes in the retail market and the economy in general, many of these sites are no longer fit for purpose.
Often the original usage has changed completely and therefore the storage and material handling equipment installed is no longer efficient to say the least. This can present an opportunity to re-design and re-configure, using new intralogistics technology and handling techniques, to create a much more cost effective operation often with a very attractive pay back period.
The number of warehouse operators who, due to a lack of good quality, new-build warehouse facilities on the market, have been forced to reconfigure their existing sites to achieve the additional storage capacity that they require is one of the reasons why global sales of Narrow Aisle Ltd’s products will reach an alltime high in 2016.
W&LN: Is the warehouse space shortage influencing your product development plans?
JM: Narrow Aisle’s development team are constantly working on new product ideas that are capable of lifting increasingly heavier loads to ever higher levels within the confines of narrower storage aisles and a number of fresh and exciting developments are in the pipeline that will provide impressive user benefits.
Product development is fundamental to Narrow Aisle’s growth and our design team always try to spot industry trends and build products that can capitalise on them. We have already discussed the FlexiPiCK but another example, is our recently launched Flexi StorMAX AC – a higher density storage system concept.
With warehouse operators in the food and grocery retail sector under immense pressure to reduce costs, the Flexi StorMAX AC system delivers an amazing net 50% increase in pallets stored compared to traditional reach trucks and offers huge cost savings and a rapid return on investment for the user.
Early adopters of the technology who have allowed us to completely reconfigure their operations around the Flexi StorMAX have been able to achieve overall project payback in less than 12 months.
W&LN: So, good quality, or new build warehousing stock close to the UK’s major population centres is at a premium and as a result, more and more companies are looking to utilise every square foot that they have available. But isn’t remodelling racking systems to make more space-efficient use of a building’s storage cube an expensive process that often involves on-site disruption and lengthy periods of downtime?
JM: It’s true that a lot of companies retain inefficient storage cubes long after their business has outgrown them because they are intimidated by the cost and upheaval that they believe adapting the system will bring.
But Narrow Aisle has introduced low fixed cost racking reconfiguration service that means the finance and downtime barriers are removed.
In simple terms, the technology – which has been successfully deployed across hundreds of sites in the United States – allows racking runs to be quickly and safely transported to the required location within the store where, once the structure has been positioned and secured to the floor, it is immediately ready to be restocked. We provide a guaranteed fixed price, timescale and detailed project plan for each relocation scheme we undertake.
Thanks to our new rack and sprinkler relocation technique it has never been easier for users to start enjoying the benefits of modern articulated forklift-based intralogistics systems.
W&LN: Do strategic supply chain planners sometimes overlook the role of the warehouse?
JM: The efficient operation of the warehouse or distribution centre remains fundamental to the successful implementation of any company’s supply chain strategy. It is perhaps surprising then that within some businesses – from SMEs to global corporations – the importance of optimizing the warehouse function can sometimes be overlooked.
I have lost count of the number of companies I have been to that, over a period of years, have happily ploughed money in to in all parts of the business except the warehouse and its IT systems and are then surprised when, one day, they realise that the facility is unable to operate efficiently or deliver the throughput speeds required to meet their needs.
The truth is that, during the last 20 years or so, warehousing’s role in the supply chain has become ever more crucial. Over this time the warehouse has evolved from a place for the longterm storage of materials and products to a part of the business that supports economies of purchasing, production, and transportation.
Savvy companies have long been aware of this and are reaping significant rewards as a result.
W&LN: At the recent IMHX you launched a pedestrian operated Flexi. Can you tell us more about it?
JM: The Flexi AC NANO TW/FW pedestrian operated VNA truck is offered as a low-cost alternative to companies in the warehouse and retail logistics sectors who want to achieve the space saving and storage efficiencies associated with Narrow Aisle’s top-selling Flexi articulated truck range but for whom a pedestrian-operated Flexi is the ideal solution.
The truck is available in both twoway (TW) and four-way (FW) versions – both of which offer versatile performance.
The TW model allows multidirectional longitudinal travel while, with the FW variant, both longitudinal and transverse travel is possible – enabling pallets and lengthy loads to be handled in very narrow aisles. The Flexi AC Nano FW is ideal for handling long loads such wood, furniture, pipework and steel.
Like all the electric-powered trucks in the Flexi range, the Flexi AC NANO’s AC drive motor technology ensures that the truck is highly energy efficient, smooth running and quiet in operation.
The Flexi AC NANO complements other Flexi articulated forklift models perfectly and will be popular with companies who want to maximise storage capacity but whose throughput requirements do not warrant an additional full size Flexi truck or when pedestrian operation is preferred.
W&LN: Was IMHX 2016 a success for Narrow Aisle?
JM: Yes, very much so. IMHX has always been a successful show for us and this year was no different. We met senior people from diverse industries who were at the show to discuss their plans for the implementation of major handling systems.
We see IMHX as a platform where modern supply chain professionals can meet and exchange ideas on logistics best practice.
I must say though that I found it astonishing and, frankly, rather depressing, to see that some exhibiting companies still feel that it’s appropriate to employ ‘dancing girls’ as part of their visitor ‘entertainment’.
I am not a prude, but as an industry we have a well publicised image problem and find it difficult to attract intelligent, young people. It is hard to see how having scantily clad women on exhibition stands at our leading trade show will improve the situation and I am sure most female visitors to the event will have found the displays demeaning.
W&LN: The market for used, or ‘second life’ forklift trucks, is growing. Is there a market for used Flexis?
JM: A thriving market for used Flexi trucks has developed and, in fact, to meet an upsurge in demand for refurbished Flexi articulated trucks, we are appealing for Flexi users whose fleet is due to be upgraded to contact us.
We’re also keen to hear from forklift dealers who have older ex fleet Flexis on their books and is offering competitive rates to encourage dealers and truck operators to part with these older Flexi forklifts.
Quite simply, we need to get hold of more used Flexi trucks to enable us to meet the growing market for ‘second life’ Flexis.
Used Flexis that have been refurbished at Narrow Aisle’s UK facility are only available directly from Narrow Aisle or through our authorised distributors.
The trucks feature all new component parts – only the chassis, counterweight and heavy fabrications are re-used and these components are tested and repainted to the highest standards.
Because the heavy steel and castiron parts used in their original construction can be recycled with all new parts, the trucks deliver obvious environmental benefits and are supplied with an identical warranty to new Flexis.
Such is the demand for used Flexis – both from users and within the ‘trade’ – that the resale value of a seven-year old Flexi truck in the UK market is frequently over twice that of, say, European built reach or turret truck alternatives.
NARROW AISLE UK
Tel: 0121 557 6242
Email: info@flexi.co.uk
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