A mobile dock lift from Transdek is proving to be cost-effective for loading trailers at a new regional distribution centre opened by A F Blakemore and Son in the West Midlands.
Blakemore, one of six wholesalers that serve Spar convenience stores throughout the UK, recently opened an additional ambient facility at Darlaston to complement and support its local Willenhall facilities. Every day some 575 roll cages of grocery products are loaded and dispatched on to 12 trailers for consolidation at Willenhall for onward distribution to the stores.
The interior of the warehouse and the outside yard are on the same level. Using tail-lifts to load and unload the trailers would have been too slow and occupied drivers for too long, according to Nathan Black, Blakemore’s operations manager, while installing a scissor lift would have been expensive and involved considerable civil engineering work. Instead, the company decided to install a Transdek free-standing dock lift, which required no civil engineering work, was ready for use in two hours and could be moved between loading bays as required.
