A 50% increase in storage space has resulted from street furniture supplier Furnitubes’ investment in a Translift Engineering articulating Bendi forklift truck at its newly-leased warehouse than was feasible at its last Sittingbourne premises.
Furnitubes produces street furniture from iron and mild steel covering more than 2,000 products including bollards, cycle stands and tree grilles. As the business grew, the company added new warehouse sheds but the extra storage areas did not complement each other and load access was difficult. The company was also using a counterbalanced gas forklift and two overhead cranes.
To solve the problem, Furnitubes looked at reach trucks and four-way side loaders but found them to be unsatisfactory. Its forklift truck supplier, Glosrose in Maidstone, then recommended the Bendi.
Furnitubes’ storage is a challenging task, because of the wide variety of product size, and many loads do not conform to standard pallet sizes. As a result the racking has been designed to take the overhang from 1.7m deep loads – anything over that is turned 90° – and the aisles are just under 2.98m wide. Awkward loads involve using steel cage stillages. Load weights vary widely with the heaviest being 1,500kg.
The electric Bendi, equipped with side shift and two-stage clear mast, can lift 1,500kg to 3.3m or 1,100kg to 6m.
