Based in Norway, Jotul is a world leading manufacturer of cast iron stoves and fireplaces. The company – which is one of the oldest industrial businesses in Norway – has subsidiaries in the USA, France, Denmark, the UK, Spain, Italy and Poland and generates more than 70 per cent of its turnover from exports to markets around the world.
Jotul has recently upgraded the materials handling fleet at its Fredrikstad manufacturing site with the acquisition of a Flexi G4 articulated forklift truck from Narrow Aisle Flexi.
The Fredrikstad facility is critical to Jotul’s business as it contains the moulds that are used during the production process. Jotul wanted a forklift that could cope with the high throughput of its production centre where mould changeover times are critical.
As part of the overhaul of materials handling processes at Fredrikstad, Jotul has also introduced powered mobile racking at the site. The powered mobile racking creates the stacking aisle in which the Flexi operates by moving the loaded racks on mobile bases.
The Flexi’s ability to work in very narrow aisles allowed Jotul to set the width of the stacking aisle at 2 metres which means that by combining mobile racking with Flexi articulated trucks Jotul has been able to achieve the maximum number of pallet locations within the site.
The Flexi G4 supplied to Jotul features a low quad mast – with the same lift height as a triple mast but shorter in the lowered position to overcome some overhead clearance issues on the truck’s route between the warehouse and the factory.
With its unique twin load wheel drive, the Award-winning G4 offers safe traction in all conditions especially when laden, making it ideal for Jotul’s needs. The G4 also features the Narrow Aisle Safe Start (NASSA) system which allows the operator to restart the truck and move off up an incline without any possibility of roll back. If the truck is on an incline when it stops, the operator simply presses a button situated on the side of the steering column to reapply the traction for a few seconds and enable a smooth hill start to be made.
Narrow Aisle Flexi developed and launched the Flexi articulated truck in 1990 and since then the Flexi has become the most popular articulated forklift truck across Europe. Over 4000 units – not only in Europe but throughout the world – have been sold, and over the past five years the Flexi range has been developed to cover the requirements of customers operating in hugely diverse industries.
Narrow Aisle Flexi
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