Translift Bendi have been designing and manufacturing ground breaking space saving forklift trucks since 1964
Our focus has always been to design and produce warehouse and materials handling products that are both cost effective and at the very leading edge of our industry. From the 1960’s our chairman/designer Freddy Brown has been at the forefront of warehouse equipment design. As a company our ‘affordable narrow aisle’ machines such as the Retreva and Easistak were extremely popular and set the tone for our commitment to cost effective very narrow aisle (VNA) storage. Freddy Brown’s ManRiser product range was the worlds first combined order picker/pallet placer and led the market for over 20 years. This was then built under licence with and for Toyota, Jungheinrich and BT.
Today Bendi has reshaped the materials handling market by offering versatile very narrow aisle forklift trucks. For the last 30 years the Bendi has developed from being a niche product to one that sells in the same numbers as conventional reach trucks and has dwarfed the VNA market that it set out to replace.
Warehouse & Logistics News – First of all, what does your role involve day to day? Has your role changed since last year?
My job varies quite a lot from day to day. I could be with Auditors, Solicitors, Health and Safety, the Design lads, Production, Service or Hire. Alternatively, I could be in front of Customers in South Africa, Australia or doing a demo in Birmingham with a driver in Birmingham, whilst arranging a photo shoot or video for the web or other PR in the afternoon. To say its similar or different from last year is difficult, but its true to say its consistently as varied as last year.
WLN – 2012: how was it for you?
2012 will go down as a very busy year for Bendi. Lots of orders are great as it gives us the chance to move the focus inwardly to the production and service and rental departments’ growth. Rising prices across the suppler base have been met with an expectation by our customers that prices remain static. These two conflicts have had to be resolved by achieving more productivity out of our costs and the saving grace has been that despite all of the turmoil in Greece, Spain and Italy the euro has remained within a 5% variance all year as has the US $.
WLN – Did your company provide any of the warehousing and logistics services for any of the major public events this year? Have you noticed any lasting effect after these events?
We had to provide service cover within the exclusion zone and did so without incident. We planned all the minutia of what was required and our service team delivered a service level that I am very proud of.
WLN – What effect did the major snow falls at the end of last year, the lack of summer, and the Olympic Games have on your company?
We’re lucky in a way. Luckier than most. Our staff all tend to live within a very small radius of the factory. On one hand it means we’re tied to Redditch (and pleased to be) but in bad weather 95% of the staff make it in to work. Delivering trucks and servicing them was tough in the snow, as was getting through some of the more recent floods, but overall the impact has been minimal thanks to a great mindset to “get it done” here at Bendi.
WLN – What is your particular proposition for customers in the warehouse & logistics sector? Has that changed since last year?
What we at Bendi bring to the market is the cheapest method of storing pallets on APR. That’s been it until now! However in 2013 we intend to extend this saving into cold storage in a really unique way and into Order Picking in a revolutionary way.
WLN – How has your business sector been performing in 2012? What do you see as the most important recent developments?
I think in general our sector (forklifts) has been underperforming but we seem to be bucking the trend as we say in our adverts, in tough times a Bendi is an easy choice.
WLN – You are a major supplier in the ‘forklift’ category, what proportion of your business is this? What else can you offer?
At the moment its 100% of our business but as already mentioned we are planning to add to this by going into different sectors and plan to keep adding as the opportunities arise.
WLN – What was your biggest investment to improve your business in 2012? What else did you do?
We’ve invested heavily in premises and plant, growing the workforce to meet the challenges that a growing order book brings along with overseas trading. This has taken the shape of a new parts building, three new paint shops, a new fabrication area, new assembly lines, new computer system was implemented earlier in 2012 which continues throughout 2013.
WLN – How are your existing products and services doing?
All the existing range of Bendi trucks are market leaders in their own rights, selling the unique industry leading space saving features across the range.
WLN – Have you launched any new products or services in 2012? What are they, and how are they performing?
The mini Bendi has proved extremely popular and we are learning about new market sectors every week and different applications jump out at us from customers who have issues that it can solve.
WLN – What’s been your company’s single biggest achievement in business this year?
Taking the success of the growth of the export market from 2011 and repeating it. There’s a whole new world out there that’s getting very excited about Bendi and what it can do for their business. Take the Paris Show this November, we walked away with the coveted innovation award.
WLN – What was your favourite business moment in 2012?
Realising that with some changes to the original order picking idea that we could revolutionise the order picking market.
WLN – If you had to go through 2012 again, what would you do differently?
Buy an umbrella company! Other than that – nothing, Bendi’s work well in the wet.
WLN – Have you won any awards in 2012, or been accredited to any new industry standards during this time?
Yes its been another great year for recognition from the industry and very importantly an end user in Asda – see additional information on the awards.
WLN – Can you tell us about any of your major projects in the last 12 months, and what they have involved?
Cold Store cab has meant designing with a different hat on. We’ve been about space, space, space since I can remember and then to focus on heat transfer through a cab has been really refreshing as we’ve met with people from other industries and learnt a lot. This new cab is going to be great for the IMHX show.
WLN – Are you making use of social media in your marketing?
Not enough, with Facebook or Twitter but I see even the pope has opened a twitter account so maybe we will be putting more content forward from 2013.
WLN – Have you developed your web site in the last 12 months? What difference do you see it making to your business in 2013?
The website is a constantly evolving beast as is the audience and the criteria to get traffic there. I enjoy this aspect of the marketing as you can see instant results, maybe some reader feedback could also help us to improve?
WLN – How do your forward orders compare with last year?
Its difficult to compare as the factory output has tripled whilst the outstanding order book has reduced slightly but not in the same proportion to output. Whilst short deliveries are great for customers it raises day to day issues within the company – but those are great problems to have.
AND FINALLY…
WLN – What’s the most exciting thing about your job?
Seeing a common reoccurring problem, coming up with a Bendi that solves the problem that can be marketed around the world to others with the same issue.
WLN – What would you like Father Christmas to bring your company?
An order for a Bendi, we know he hasn’t got one so he must be wasting time and space storing all those toys, we could be one of his little helpers.
WLN – What are your ambitions for 2013?
To establish ourselves in the cold store and order picking sectors as we have done in the traditional Bendi Market.
WLN – What are you personally most looking forward to next year?
We’ve got a lot to do, Im looking forward to getting it done.
WLN – If you won the Jackpot in the EuroMillions what would you do?
I’d find ways of telling more people about Bendi. It’s not even a sell, just show people what it can do for their business and that we can help improve their storage dramatically. It seems to be the best kept secret, especially overseas, I’d change that!
Translift Bendi
Tel: 01527 527 411
Email: info@bendi.co.uk
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