Narrow Aisle is one of the world’s foremost manufacturers of very narrow aisle (VNA) materials handling equipment and has been at the forefront of articulated forklift truck design for more than three decades. The company manufactures and markets the award-winning Flexi range of articulated forklift trucks. Flexis designed and manufactured at Narrow Aisle’s UK manufacturing plant are distributed worldwide through a fully supported distributor network and over 12,000 Flexi Trucks have been supplied to distributors and users in more than 70 different countries.
Managing Directo
Warehouse & Logistics News spoke to articulated forklift truck-based intralogistics solutions specialist Narrow Aisle Ltd’s new Managing Director, Donald Houston, about the company’s reputation for building high quality, ultra-efficient products and its future growth plans.
There have been some senior management appointments at Narrow Aisle recently. Can you tell us about them?
From the first of April this year I took up the position of Managing Director of Narrow Aisle. I’ve been with the company since the management buyout at the beginning of 2019 when I joined as Finance Director. During my career in the materials handing sector I have held a number of senior roles including directorships at Linde Scotland and Linde East.
I have taken over the reins from John Maguire, who has decided to begin winding down to retirement. John is very well known throughout the UK materials handling industry and has played a huge part in establishing Narrow Aisle as a market leader since joining us from Linde nearly 20 years ago. I am delighted to say that he remains an executive director of the business with responsibility for international development and is an integral part of the company’s future.
It reflects the stability that we enjoy at Narrow Aisle that the company has only had three managing directors since it was formed nearly 50 years ago: Peter Wooldridge – who founded the business and pioneered articulated forklift technology, John Maguire and me – and all three of us sit on the company’s executive board!
Our senior management team has also been further strengthened with the arrival of Mike Hawkins. Mike joins Narrow Aisle from KION Group where he was Director, Intralogistics. He has been in the industry for 38 years and has a wealth of knowledge and experience which will benefit us greatly as we strive to further develop our business both in the UK and globally.
You are one of the very few remaining companies that manufactures forklift trucks in the UK. How have you coped with the post-pandemic supply chain issues that have had such an impact on other forklift manufacturers worldwide?
It is no secret that thanks to a combination of the high demand for all types of forklift truck and the ongoing supply chain issues that continue to impact on the availability of key forklift component parts across the industry, some manufacturers are quoting lead times of as long as 12 months.
Demand for our range of Flexi articulated reach truck-based intralogistics solutions is surging but thanks to a significant upgrade of our UK manufacturing facility that we undertook at the start of 2019 that saw in-bound logistics efficiency, quality management and lift mast assembly processes all significantly improved, delivery lead times for new trucks have been maintained at normal levels. This means that, in most cases, we have been able to build and deliver new trucks in under eight weeks from the date that an order is placed. We benchmark our production performance against similar sized operations in our sector and we believe that our lead times compare very favorably.
Does this production efficiency translate into more truck sales?
We achieved a global turnover of £31.6 million in the year ending December 2022 – the highest we have ever recorded, and UK sales were up 10 per cent year-on-year. There is no doubt that the ability to respond to the demand for new fully configured Flexi trucks quickly gives us a commercial advantage and we know that we have won some significant orders thanks not only to the quality and drivability of our Flexi products, but because we have been able to satisfy our customers’ need for new trucks.
Do you believe you can sustain this impressive growth rate and, if so, where do you see new business coming from?
Our long-term strategic focus has always been on continually increasing our UK market share and growing key overseas markets such as the Americas in particular.
We firmly believe that the UK market offers significant growth potential for the Flexi range of articulated lift trucks. Flexi trucks are an extremely cost-efficient alternative to the traditional combination of a counterbalanced truck to unload and load and a reach truck to put away and pick palletised loads and, in recent years, more and more fleet operators have been converted to the Flexi articulated approach.
Until the Flexi truck was introduced, companies had little alternative but to operate a two truck system with a counterbalanced machine working outside and feeding a reach truck inside the store or warehouse. With the arrival of Flexi, users realised that they could eliminate this often costly and generally inefficient arrangement. Flexi trucks load and unload lorries and deliver pallets directly to the racking in a single operation. By doing so, they increase efficiency and productivity, eliminate double handling, and cut the significant cost incurred by companies when they run a bigger truck fleet than they need.
Flexis also offer other important benefits when compared to a reach truck. For instance, a Flexi does not require the warehouse or distribution centre to have a high-spec floor or wire- or rail-guidance technology fitted within the aisles. In the largest storage cubes Flexis do not need a transfer aisle and space-consuming P&D stations are not necessary either.
There are in the region of 10,000 reach trucks operating in the UK and everyone of them could be replaced by a Flexi so we have plenty of potential users to go after!
We are also very excited by the growth potential of overseas markets – particularly the USA. The US market for very narrow aisle (VNA) lift trucks is developing rapidly. In fact, the United States has overtaken Europe as the biggest market for VNA trucks during the last two to three years.
The articulated forklift truck concept is well established in the USA and with demand for more space efficient warehouse solutions increasing, we believe that there is huge potential to grow Flexi sales there.
We have just signed an agreement with Houston-based Equipment Depot – the largest independent distributor of materials handling equipment in the USA – that will see Equipment Depot distribute our range under the brand name, Artix.
Artix trucks are adapted for the US market by the use of three- or four-stage quad masts which, when lowered, allow the trucks to be driven into the back of a waiting semi-trailer to retrieve or deposit pallets straight off a dock. This design tweak makes Artix trucks ideally suited to work in loading docks and within narrow aisle stores.
The UK continues to suffer from a shortage of good quality warehouse space, so it is essential that warehouse operators get the most out of their facilities. Can Narrow Aisle help clients optimise the storage volume of a new building or suggest operational improvements that will boost the pallet capacity of an existing facility?
We recently announced the launch of a new warehouse design and implementation service that not only delivers ultra-efficient storage systems for new build facilities but also works with clients to reconfigure their existing units to optimise space utilisation and handling efficiency.
Across the country there is a huge number of warehouse buildings that are no longer fit for purpose due to the extensive changes in the retail market and the economy in general.
Often the site’s original role has changed completely and, as a result, the storage system is no longer as efficient as it could be. By redesigning the facility’s layout and introducing new materials handling technology we give an existing warehouse a whole new lease of life. In many cases this will save the expense and disruption to the business of moving to a new building or having to outsource part or all the storage operation to a third party.
Our new project design department is headed-up by Paul McBeath, who has just joined us from Kion where he was responsible for the Storage Solutions team.
Because we supply and install a full range of storage equipment – including pallet racking, shelving, sprinklers, mezzanine flooring etc – Paul and his team will always develop the best possible solution to meet the unique needs of each application.
It sounds like Narrow Aisle has plenty of reasons to look to the future with optimism.
We think we do, yes. Despite the global economic uncertainty created by events that nobody could have foreseen we have continued to make excellent progress towards our various goals by taking a long-term view and making strategic investments in our business while remaining agile and adaptable. We also understand the needs of our clients, which is vital for the success of any company. In simple terms, Narrow Aisle’s customers are involved in the storage and handling of many different products – from foodstuffs to engine parts. However, they all share at least one common aim: the need to save costs by maximising efficiency within their intralogistics operation. And this is where we come in!
Narrow Aisle Limited
0121 557 6242
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