“Perfect” storage and handling solution for Furniturebox

Furniturebox, established in the UK by Monty George and Dan Beckles in 2015 at the age of 17, operated from its old warehouse at Mere in Wiltshire until September, when it opened a new facility in Chippenham. In recent years, Furniturebox has seen a rise in ecommerce, indirect sales, and 3PL opportunities, resulting in the need to expand into its new warehouse.

Furniturebox is a growing online furniture store dedicated to selling beautiful, quality, and affordable products, and providing exceptional customer service. Furniturebox says it prides itself on forming outstanding customer experience, a factor it believes is responsible for the company’s fast growth. This has already been a life-changing year for the company, as the founders made the Forbes “30 Under 30 2022” list for retail and ecommerce entrepreneurs in Europe.

SSI Schaefer, one of the world’s leading providers of storage systems with multiple manufacturing sites across the world, was able to offer what is described as the perfect solution for Furniturebox. The new logistics centre’s layout hosts a five-level pallet pick tower and a combination of VNA (very narrow aisles) and wide aisles racking systems to ensure maximum efficiency and immediate selectivity. Furniturebox had a clear vision of the solution it wanted for its new 7,700 sq m facility from the start. The new system provides the retailer with 5,700 pallet locations, meeting its current needs and space for future growth.

Furniturebox sought forklift supplier

To add up to its warehouse’s efficiency and to complement the thought-through racking layout, Furniturebox sought a new forklift truck provider. SSI Schaefer introduced UniCarriers as its potential partner for this type of equipment. UniCarriers, a growing industry specialist, says it uses a customer-centric and consultative approach when selecting the best solutions for each request.

It offered Furniturebox a range of high-quality, innovative warehouse equipment and IC/electric counterbalance forklifts which, in conjunction with the racking solutions, will ensure improved safety, minimise the unnecessary costs, provide transparency, and optimise its warehouse operations. UniCarriers’ professional and individual approach supported Furniturebox’s strategy and vision, providing it with equipment and solutions to support its everyday needs.

Pete Butcher, Regional Sales Manager at UniCarriers UK, describes the procedure: “Following on from several customer visits, demonstrating how UniCarriers VNA equipment performed in limited space, we provided Furniturebox with several solutions to retain their capacity but to give them back immediate selectivity.”

Range of equipment

As a result, the customer selected a range of equipment to be delivered to its new location, together with a supportive full-service preventative maintenance contract, providing the highest level of tailored after-sales service.

Furniturebox ordered two EK Man-up Very Narrow Aisle Trucks to serve its full-pallet storage units and order picking in VNA applications. Thanks to a smart design concept and modular construction, the EK Series is suitable for all kinds of VNA applications. Two TERGO UHX Reach Trucks, with a high lifting capacity, will support the employees with full rack heights of 14m during storage and retrieval operations, bringing Furniturebox’s operational efficiency to the highest level.

Furniturebox also needed equipment for heavy lifting handling. For this purpose, UniCarriers offered four PLF Powered Pallet Trucks equipped with dampened folding platforms, and traction, damping and stability (TDS) concept, ensuring excellent truck performance and comfort in all conditions for operators, even when the driving surfaces are wet or uneven.

For Furniturebox, the only way is up, as it continues to grow, having recently expanded to supplying the US market. UniCarriers and SSI Schaefer say they will be there to share its journey, a partnership delivering solutions that offer the best integrated value for its ongoing demands.