Rico Logistics, the high quality industrial and parts fulfilment group, has maximized the storage capacity of its new warehouse facility on the outskirts of Birmingham by reconfiguring the internal lay-out of the site around a high-bay narrow aisle racking system served by a fleet of Flexi articulated lift trucks with a 14 metre lift height supplied by Narrow Aisle Ltd.
Rico leased the building at Minworth in Summer 2019 to support their rapidly expanding business and, following a consultation with Narrow Aisle’s Warehouse Systems Division, a storage solution that allowed all of the available space offered by the facility to be utilized was designed and implemented.
By introducing racking that made use of the full height of the building, Rico has been able to optimize pallet locations and pick faces and ensure that the site delivers the most cost-efficient storage cube. The project was undertaken in two phases and, now complete, provides some 11,000 pallet locations. At its highest point, which is in the apex of the building’s roof structure, the new racking scheme delivers a 14 metre high top rack beam.
A fleet of Flexi articulated VNA trucks – all of which are the latest Flexi ACiON models from Narrow Aisle – is in operation within Rico’s new store.
Flexi ACiON trucks feature digital electric motor technology that allows all independent drive, hydraulic and power-steering motors functions to be controlled digitally to ensure the most productive and energy-efficient performance throughout the working day.
“The collaborative robotic – or ‘cobotic’ – control systems in the heart of the Flexi ACiON 1500 model deliver a more integrated performance, and result in greater reliability and higher productivity combined with significantly reduced operating and maintenance costs,” says Narrow Aisle Ltd’s managing director, John Maguire.
He continues: “The Flexi ACiON’s advanced suite of ‘cobotic’ technology is, in effect, connected to the truck’s nervous system and it allows features such as the operator’s vision camera, height selection system and aisle sensing technology, to be integrated without the need for hard-wired relays, contactors and so on. This means that far less components are required and, as a result, truck uptime is optimized.”
Picking pallets at height is not a problem for the Flexi ACiON thanks to the truck’s integrated tilting carriage and fixed mast design which eliminates mast sway – even at heights of 14 metres. This feature – which is unique to Flexi – enhances the truck’s already class-leading high lift stability.
Rico’s trucks have also been supplied with Narrow Aisle’s Smart Stop ‘in-aisle sensor’ system. Developed by Flexi Warehouse Systems’ team of software engineers, Smart Stop technology disables the truck if it has come in to contact with an object, such as pallet loads, racking or rack guards within the aisle. The truck can only be restarted once the driver has reported details of the collision to the designated line manager, thus ensuring that no potential truck/rack impact incidents go unreported.
The intralogistics upgrade at Rico was overseen by a team from Narrow Aisle’s Warehouse System Division and was completed on time and within budget, while the fleet of articulated forklift trucks were supplied on a contract hire package with inclusive service and maintenance support provided.
Driver-friendly lift trucks are now even easier to operate
Narrow Aisle Ltd’s new Flexi Smart Stop System is an ‘in-aisle sensor’ that immediately disables a Flexi articulated truck if its chassis comes in to contact with an object, such as a pallet load, racking or rack guards within the aisle.
Developed by Narrow Aisle’s in-house team of software engineers, the unique Smart Stop System causes the truck’s drive system to lock out if a Flexi touches a load or rack while turning in an aisle. The truck can only be restarted once the driver has reported details of the collision to the designated line manager, thus ensuring that no incident goes unreported.
The ‘touch sensitive’ technology has been used extensively as a safety system in the elevated work platform market, where the ability to detect impact at ground level is critical for machines that operate up to over 20 metres high.
John Maguire, managing director of Narrow Aisle Ltd, comments: “Damage to racking and products caused by forklifts recklessly driven in and around the warehouse or distribution centre continues to cost companies thousands of pounds each year.
“With warehouses under pressure to meet throughput targets, it is important to make the operator’s job as easy as possible which is why the new Flexi ACiON has been developed to be one of the most straightforward trucks to operate on the market. Now the availability of Smart Stop makes one of the world’s most driver-friendly lift trucks even easier and safer to operate.”
Flexi Narrow Aisle
t: 0121 557 6242
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