When Heartbeat Manufacturing acquired a new warehouse, they once again turned to Bendi to provide the optimum handling and storage solution.

Heartbeat Manufacturing is one of the U.K.’s leading designers, manufacturers and suppliers of Display Equipment and bespoke products for the retail sector. Established over 60 years ago, Heartbeat Manufacturing are a family owned business with an enviable reputation for offering innovative, complete Display solutions for clients operating in UK and overseas markets including John Lewis, B&Q, Wickes and many more household names.

Bendi were first introduced to Heartbeat in 2005 when they were called upon to come up with a solution to combat the storage issues created by the company’s continuing growth. Having solved that storage problem, and increasing the overall warehousing efficiency, it was no surprise that Heartbeat turned once again to Bendi when they acquired a new warehouse.

“The significant growth of the Heartbeat business has created interesting challenges for the efficient storage and distribution of goods,” explains Bob Cave, Heartbeat Warehouse Manager. “Before we started to use the Bendi, we had a mixture of reach and counterbalance trucks but it soon became obvious that we needed an alternative solution. We initially considered VNA to give us the storage capacity but it was considered expensive, too slow and would have meant additional trucks for outside work. After a recommendation we contacted Bendi and haven’t looked back since”

The new warehouse facility in Redditch has been designed to accommodate up to 3000 pallets of varying shapes and sizes and it was the all-round flexibility of the Bendi that also appealed to Heartbeat.

“The initial attraction of the Bendi was undoubtedly the amount of extra pallets we could accommodate in the warehouse and the fact that it operates equally as well outside loading the vehicles, but we also had to consider the type of loads we handle” commented Bob. “With manufacturing such an extensive range of products for customers both here in the UK and overseas, the warehouse has to be flexible enough to cater for loads of all shapes and sizes including Euro pallets. The Bendi gives us this option without having to worry about losing valuable space or causing damage to products or racking”

With an aisle width of only 1800mm and a top beam height of 7000mm, the new warehouse is certainly different from the old steel bulk store but the operators had no problems adapting to the new environment or higher lift Bendi’s. The expertise and support from the Bendi team was another important factor for Heartbeat.

“We have built an excellent working relationship which has created real benefits for both parties. Their expertise and in-depth product and industry knowledge has helped us to improve our operations and their after sales service has been excellent” concluded Bob.

Bendi articulated forklift trucks combine the versatility and speed of a counterbalance truck, the high lifting capacity of a reach truck and the aisle performance of a VNA truck. Bendi’s can load and unload vehicles in external yards and work comfortably in 1600mm aisles at heights up to 12m and beyond. Bendi trucks allow much higher storage densities than reach trucks or even VNA trucks.

Bendi

www.bendi.co.uk

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