Furniture Village is the largest privately owned furniture chain in the UK. Its 100,000 sq ft national distribution centre (NDC) in Milton Keynes is the hub of the organisation, distributing £60 million of customer orders to satellite warehouses across the country. The company had extended the NDC’s racking to make full use of the building’s height and was looking for a forklift truck supplier to provide trucks that could cope with the demands of its busy warehouse.
As an existing supplier of forklifts at two of Furniture Village’s satellite warehouses, Atlet, along with four other suppliers, was invited to put together a proposal for the NDC’s new truck contract.
Andy Long, Group Warehouse Manager, Furniture Village, explains, “Our existing trucks simply couldn’t cope with the demands on the new racking and layout. We are now moving heavy furniture at heights of over 11 metres so needed trucks that would meet our health and safety requirements to ensure driver safety and comfort.”
Solution provider
Matt Prentice, Atlet’s dedicated Furniture Village account manager, visited the NDC to assess its operations and requirements. As a company Atlet is committed to improving the profitability of its customers’ material handling, so Matt took the time to gain a thorough understanding of the centre’s requirements before proposing the most suitable and economic solution.
Atlet was delighted to be awarded the contract. Andy Long explains his selection criteria, “Out of all the suppliers we approached, Matt was the only one who really took the time to understand what we were trying to achieve. He looked in a lot of detail and talked us through various options to give us the best solution possible.”
Atlet has supplied Furniture Village with one ET-15 counter balance truck, three Tempo PPL low level order pickers and three of its new generation heavy-duty reach trucks, the Tergo UHX. Designed to perform almost any heavy-duty 24/7 material handling task, the UHX is the ideal reach truck for extremely high stacking. It is also one of the world’s fastest and most ergonomic reach trucks, as Matt Prentice, Account Manager, Atlet explains, “Our new generation of heavy duty reach trucks provide the ideal solution for Furniture Village’s demanding operations as they are extremely stable at height due to the strength of the mast and smoothness of the controls.”
Improved battery change
As part of its proposal Atlet suggested introducing a new battery change area. Improving a warehouse’s battery change can not only reduce battery changeover times, but also increase vehicle uptime and help achieve a more efficient deployment of manpower.
Furniture Village were opportunity charging during shifts which was bad for battery life. Atlet provides complete end-to-end design, manufacture and installation services for battery handling applications, and designed and installed a space track system for the reach trucks and a transfer track system for the pickers. Not only is it a lot safer, but is has significantly improved Furniture Village’s operational efficiency.
Andy Long comments, “We took Atlet’s advice and now have a dedicated battery change area where batteries are simply changed quickly and easily. It is far safer, much less labour intensive and has considerably improved productivity.”
Driver comfort
Furniture Village takes the comfort and safety of its drivers very seriously and has been delighted with the response Atlet’s trucks have received. Andy Long reports, “Atlet’s trucks are far more comfortable and user friendly than our previous models. Our drivers are happy to sit for a lot longer, which has again had a positive impact on operational efficiency.”
Safety and efficiency
To improve safety Atlet advised fitting a camera monitoring system to each reach truck. Picking and putting heavy furniture away at heights of up to 12 metres requires considerable accuracy and the cameras enable the drivers to see what they are doing close up, without straining their necks. Andy Long comments, “The cameras have helped with accuracy and also stock identification as we can use them to check stock codes.”
The trucks are also fitted with a keypad which enables Furniture Village to allocate trucks to drivers. Andy adds, “The system is really useful as it means we can give a driver a dedicated truck and then assess and cost out the efficiency of people and picks.”
Single point of contact
Atlet prides itself on its personal approach and providing customers with a single point of contact is an important part of its customer service. Furniture Village’s account manager keeps in regular contact with its warehouse managers to ensure the fleet is working at optimum efficiency and any proposed changes to operations are managed. Andy Long comments, ”I really valued the amount of time and considered approach Atlet put into understanding our requirements. It was invaluable in helping me choose the right equipment. It’s also really helpful to have just one point of contact to address all my needs at any time.”
Conclusion
Andy Long concludes, “Atlet has worked hard to establish a very good working relationship with us. We feel very well looked after and in capable hands. Its trucks have improved operational efficiency and health and safety at our NDC and I’m confident that as we continue to grow, our partnership with Atlet will grow too.”
Atlet Limited
Chris Bates
Tel: 01844 215501
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