Since it was established in 2003, Higgidy has seen significant growth and is now a household name for lovers of savoury snacks. The company’s three warehouses at its premises in Shoreham-by-Sea are packed full of ingredients that are transformed in nearby kitchens into its ever growing range of baked products, stocked by major supermarkets across the country. To ensure efficient materials handling and space saving storage on site, Higgidy is using two Aisle Master articulated forklifts which work in the ambient, chilled and cold store areas as well as in the packaging stores.
The Aisle Masters have replaced a stand-on stacker truck and a counterbalance forklift due to their ability to “do everything” as Logistics Manager Dean Parsons explains. “Both previous trucks were very limited in where they could operate – our stacker truck could only work in the cold store and the counterbalance truck didn’t cope well outside. The Aisle Masters can go everywhere, offload outside and bring goods directly to the storage bays so we have a much higher degree of versatility.”
Making the most of available space was a further issue that was solved thanks to the Aisle Master’s ability to work in narrow aisles. John Kelley of materials handling consultants Mexmast worked with Dean on the configuration and installation of a double deep storage system in the packaging warehouse, which has doubled its previous capacity.
The constant transition between -22° C in the cold store, +3° C in the chilled section through to ambient is a challenge for any equipment, but the cold store spec Aisle Masters cope with these fluctuations with no adverse effect on performance. They are fitted with anti-mist glass on the top, front and rear windscreens and the powerful 930 Ah batteries counteract any possibility of battery draining in extreme cold.
The 2t capacity trucks have other features designed to Higgidy’s specific requirements such as triple telescopic forks, enabling them to manoeuvre around tight corners in the cold store and easily access pallets in the double deep racking. “This is not a feature I have come across on an Aisle Master before,” said John Kelley, “but the engineers in Ireland suggested this as the best solution.” The rear width of 1420mm offers excellent stability when lifting 800kg pallets of frozen goods to the top bay of 3.6m.
The road worthiness of the Aisle Masters is an improvement too, enabling them to move quickly between the various units on site and offer a smooth ride on a bumpy road. Johnny Weaver, Logistics Coordinator and driver is also impressed by the visibility from the cab: “When we were moving larger pallets with the counterbalance truck we had to reverse to see where we were going, which was risky as well as uncomfortable.”
The trucks have proved to do just what they promised and two more will replace old counterbalance forklifts in due course. “There are a lot of benefits from using just one type of truck, particularly one that has the capacity to do so much and work long hours on just one battery charge,” said Dean. “Mexmast couldn’t have looked after us better, so it’s been a recipe for success.”
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