Animal roars ahead
June 1st 2009 Action sports brand Animal has gained up to 1,500 pallet
positions in its global distribution warehouse by using
Translift Bendi three-wheelers in racking no wider than
1.8m. Productivity has also trebled
Conceived by two surfers making watch
straps in a bedroom in 1987, Animal is now
a global sports brand, with a turnover of
more than £50m.
The firm made steps to significantly
expand its operation three years ago,
consolidating all stock from six locations
into a 100,000sq ft building. However, the
roof supports meant that the racking aisle
widths had to be approximately 1.8m wide,
otherwise Animal would immediately lose
up to 1,500 pallet positions, 33% of the
capacity.
"1.8m is a problem for conventional
forklifts and VNA doesn't offer the flexibility
we needed. However, with Translift Bendi's
three-wheel articulated trucks able to
operate in aisles of 1.6m, we knew that it
was possible," explains James Runciman,
Operations Manager at Animal's global
distribution centre in Poole.
Animal now operates with 4,636 total
bulk pallet positions up to 7m high, with
12,755 pick faces and 1,203 full pallet pick
faces. The operation typically runs in two
shifts from 7.30am until midnight, with
most stock arriving every morning in
containers from all over the world.
A fleet of Bendi B313 articulated trucks
are used to remove pallets from the goodsin
marshalling areas and place stock in predetermined
pallet positions. The three
wheel trucks maintain excellent stability in
the narrow aisles with up to 1.35tonne lift
capacity at heights of 7.2m with no special
floor requirements. The trucks, supplied by
AFL Trucks in Poole, are also used for bulk
and sequential picking, and for transport of
pallets to the despatch marshalling area.
The powerful Bendis provide high
visibility of the fork tips when the mast
articulates, with 110° over-rotating power
steering and side shift, to make it easy to
position pallets accurately at height.
According to the drivers, the Bendis are
easy to manoeuvre and they now prefer
them to standard trucks.
"Even in widths of just 1.8m, the Bendi
trucks help the drivers work faster, safer
and more accurately. We have seen racking
damage fall to a minimum compared to our
old warehouses where the aisles were
much wider, with regular damage caused
by reach trucks," says Runciman.
"We are now more efficient and picking
an average of 249 pieces per person per
hour. Five years ago we were lucky to
achieve 69. This has had an impressive
impact on cost reduction and overall
company productivity." Runciman also says
he gets 10-11 hours operating time before
battery charging, which means Animal
never sees any downtime between shifts. More articles from Bendi: | 
