n Nimans has invested in five new Crown Wave work assist vehicles (WAVs) for its 8,370sq m trade counter and national distribution centre at Pendlebury, Manchester. The facility houses a stockholding of 4,000 product lines, worth more than £6M, for the telecommunication and data distribution specialist.
n Up to 900 individual customer orders are currently picked and packed at Pendlebury each working day. Destined for UK and European destinations, each order is despatched and delivered on a guaranteed next-day basis providing it is received by 6.30pm every working day.
n Before the arrival of the Wave WAVs, the picking and processing of items was carried out at Nimans’ former Salford warehouse using mobile steps, which was slow and time consuming. The company trialled some Wave trucks at Salford to ascertain their suitability for future multi-level order picking and processing tasks.
n Chris Musgrave, Nimans’ distribution manager, says: “Thanks to the Wave machines we are now able to pick using both hands and bring down more stock from each location than we ever could previously using conventional ladders. This helps save a lot of time and effort on the part of picking operatives, as does the fact that the Wave machine also makes it easier to pick from higher locations.”
n To further improve speed or order picking, Crown has equipped three of the five Wave trucks with extended upper load carrying trays, providing the ability for multi-pick from each picking zone.
