Summer 2008

A decision by fulfilment specialist Amethyst to deploy seven Flexi articulated forklift from Narrow Aisle at its Wellesbourne site in Warwickshire is a reflection of the changing nature of warehousing in the world of e-fulfilment. So says John Maguire, Narrow Aisle's sales and marketing director.

'There is a discernible trend in the mechanics of customer order picking,' he explains, 'with more demand for smaller volumes of outers per SKU more frequently – which leads to more SKUs per pick list.'

He adds: 'Everyone – particularly retailers – wants less inventory in store, so the amount of break-bulk and ground level picking of single items within RDCs is growing fast. As a result, warehouse operators need more ground level locations to maintain efficiency and, at the same time, they want to maximise the use of expensive warehouse space.'

At the Wellesbourne site, incoming trailers are unloaded at one of eight loading bay doors with pallet trucks, and the full pallet loads are collated at a marshalling point close to the goods-in area.

 

Once the necessary paperwork for the pallet location has been generated, full pallet loads are now taken by a fleet of seven Narrow Aisle Flexi articulated forklift trucks to their position within the racking.

Amethyst's recently-opened 60,000 sq ft warehouse has 48 aisles of pallet racking and over 20,000 pallet locations. At its store's highest point the top beam of the racking is 9.5 metres high.

Clients include Bandai (producers of the highly popular Power Rangers merchandise), Leapfrog, Vivid Ravensburge, Character World and Ranxbaxy.