Case Study: VNA Technology Ensures High Pallet Capacity

With a diverse client base that includes leading clothing manufacturers, food suppliers and a Premier League football club, the Daygard Logistics Group of Companies offers an extensive range of warehousing and distribution services together with hospitality logistics and logistics solutions for hotel and facility refurbishment specialists.

The most recent addition to the Daygard Group’s property portfolio is a 20,000 sq. ft warehouse unit close to the M25 motorway in West Thurrock, Kent.

Before Daygard could move in, the facility required significant refurbishment – including the conversion of part of the building’s storage area into office accommodation. To ensure that the addition of the office space did not compromise the site’s pallet storage capacity, Daygard reconfigured a large part of the warehouse’s footprint around a narrow aisle storage system served by Flexi articulated VNA reach truck technology from Narrow Aisle Ltd.

“The Flexi articulated VNA truck is able to operate in aisles that are literally less than half the width required by a traditional counterbalanced truck which means we have not lost storage capacity – despite dedicating a large part of the new site to administrative operations,” says Daygard director, Rory Munday.

The narrow aisle storage cube at Daygard’s West Thurrock store offers 1000 pallet locations: aisles are just 2.0 metres wide with each pallet rack filled to roof level and the facility is used to store fashion clothing on behalf of a leading manufacturer prior to picking, packing and onward distribution to the client company’s retail stockists.

Just one Flexi VNA truck – an electric-powered AC1000 model – undertakes the overwhelming majority of the pallet handling operations within the store. Like all models in the Flexi range, the truck is fitted with elastic rubber tires and is able to operate safely both inside and outside the warehouse, which means that Daygard is able to employ a single Flexi to unload and load vehicles and put away and pick pallet loads within the racking.

With just a single Flexi serving the store, it is clearly vital that truck up-time is maximised. “The Flexi electric-powered articulated trucks’ reputation for exceptional reliability and rapid battery change-over capability, was a significant influence on our decision to choose the Flexi ,” says Rory Munday.

The Flexi AC VNA truck in operation at Daygard’s West Thurrock site features Narrow Aisle’s simple cassette battery changing and 6.5 hour charging technology that delivers multi-shift availability and ensures that the truck is available around the clock if required.

The truck has been provided on a rental agreement that covers all planned maintenance, safety inspections and repairs.