Asda has saved 40 per cent storage space in its back of house high bay racking areas across the UK after reducing aisle widths to less than 2m and operating VNA Bendi trucks.
The supermarket giant replaced its existing reach and counterbalance trucks with Bendis and now has the specification for indoor and outdoor use.
Asda initially integrated Bendi machines at its Frome store followed by Capehill, Motherwell and Glasgow five years ago and has steadily introduced Bendis throughout other stores since then.
“When the recession really started to bite in 2009, it was essential for us to be able to replicate nationally the savings gained in the stores that received Bendi trucks first,” said Simon Grass, Asda’s back of house manager. “The Bendi team were incredibly supportive, efficient and flexible in rolling out the project on a national scale.”
The trucks offer more than 99 per cent uptime and the space gained in the back of house area has been turned into front of house space.
Asda has also has recently trialled the new Mini Bendi at its Ipswich branch.
Grass added: “The Mini Bendi pedestrian articulated forklift truck is an impressive feat of design ingenuity. It is a much smaller, lighter machine than the other trucks in the Bendi range yet it offers superior levels of safety and functionality previously considered unattainable in our back of house warehousing environment.”
