Distinction Door Solutions is the leading supplier of GRP (Glass Reinforced Polyester) entrance doors to the UK market. The company has recently taken delivery of two Aisle-Masters to ensure the seamless handling and storage of its stock of 25,000 door blanks, 80,000 glazing cassettes and other components in its warehousing facility in Barnsley.
Following an expansion of the business the company opened a new warehouse earlier in the year for the bulk storage of raw materials, doubling the footprint to 80,000 ft2. This is located across the yard from the original store which houses finished doors, so any forklifts working on site need to be able to travel easily and quickly between the two buildings to ensure a steady flow of goods. This was not the case until the Aisle-Masters were brought in as Operations Manager Dennis Bird explains: “The reach trucks we were using were not really up to the demands of outside operation – we had problems with damage to the tyres, and regular breakdowns were seriously impacting on our productivity. When we opened the new facility we realised we had to look at something more robust and reliable to ensure the supply of over 5,000 doors a week to our customers around the country.”
Lee Brown of Ability Handling recommended the Aisle-Masters due to the trucks’ versatility to work equally well indoors and out as well as their proven track record of extreme dependability. The reach trucks were withdrawn earlier than scheduled and replaced with two narrow chassis AC electric powered 1.5t capacity 15E Aisle-Master models on a 5 year rental contract, resulting in vastly improved operations.
The new 15E model is designed for companies handling lighter loads in low bay applications and it can also work in block stacking applications. It therefore perfectly suited Distinction Doors’ requirements as the finished product is not overly heavy, is stored to a top beam height of 5500mm, and the raw materials are block stacked.
“The Aisle-Masters are the all-round solution.” says Dennis. “They can offload in the yard, commute easily between the two buildings and give us peace of mind that we can fulfill our customer commitments.”
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