DCS Europe, a UK top ten wholesaler (Grocery Powerlist 2009) of toiletries and household brands, has operated Bendi articulated trucks in its warehouse facilities exclusively for over ten years. In that time, the trucks have carried out an estimated 2.5 million pallet movements. Warehouse Manager Jason Maxwell was instrumental in the original decision to buy Bendis. Now, with the benefit of a decade of experience running Bendis, he explains why the company remains committed to them.

Back in 1998, having outgrown our original premises at Atherstone in Warwickshire, we built a new high bay warehouse on the site. We had previously operated reach trucks, but we decided to take a look at narrow aisle trucks for the new warehouse. At this time, we became aware of the Bendi articulated truck concept and we called Translift Bendi in to discuss how Bendis could work for us.

They demonstrated that operating Bendis would enable us to make much better use of our space with around 40% higher storage densities than we'd get with reach trucks. The Bendi operates in aisles down to 1.6m compared to 2.5-3.0m for a typical reach truck. The racking layout in the new warehouse was designed around this feature - and four Bendi B40 trucks were ordered, soon to be followed by a fifth.

Success breeds success
In use it was immediately apparent that as well as higher storage density, we were achieving higher pick rates and many more pallet movements per day. The Bendis became a real contributor to the company's success and rapid growth - so when we needed to move again to larger premises, it was a foregone conclusion that we'd run Bendis at the new premises.

We moved from Atherstone to our current premises in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2002. By now the company was carrying literally thousands of product lines including non-perishable foods, household goods and pharmaceuticals.

Whilst the new premises are more than 6½ times the size of the previous facility, there is a height restriction due to mezzanine floors and low ceilings in many of the storage areas.

Unique solution
The guys from Translift Bendi came over and did a site survey, which formed the basis for our new racking layout and established the requirement for a non-standard mast to be retrofitted to the existing trucks and fitted to new trucks ordered at the time. This mast design allows lifting to 5.6m, with a closed height of 2.8m and as far as I'm aware, it's unique to the trucks we operate here at DCS Europe.

The special masts, like every other aspect of the Bendis, are brilliantly engineered and built to last. This is borne out by the fact that the original five trucks from the Atherstone facility are still going strong as part of our expanded fleet which now numbers sixteen trucks in total.

Fifteen of the Bendis are B40s with the special mast and the sixteenth is a Bendi B41HL high lift model which is used by our manufacturing division, in its adjacent high-bay warehouse. This truck combines all the benefits of the other Bendis, with an incredible twelve metres-plus lifting capability.

The team behind the trucks
In the ten or so years we've been running Bendis, there's been another important factor which has had a big influence on the way we work: the expertise and support from the Bendi team. We have built an excellent working partnership in which the two-way flow of information has created real benefits for both parties. Their expertise and in-depth product knowledge has helped us to improve our operations - and our feedback has helped them to develop the trucks. From our initial meetings over ten years ago, through subsequent engineering support and regular service visits, every aspect of our relationship has been more than satisfactory. There has never been any 'hard sell', but I guess there's never been a need as the product and support have always been so excellent.

Today, despite the harsh economic climate, DCS Europe is going from strength to strength, with an increasingly diverse customer base across various different sectors. To serve them, we need to be versatile, dependable and always quick-off-the-mark - just like our Bendi trucks.

Bendi articulated forklifts trucks combine the versatility and speed of a counterbalance, the high lifting capacity of a reach truck and the aisle performance of a VNA truck. Bendis can load and unload vehicles in external yards and work comfortably in 1.6m aisles at heights up to 12m and beyond. Bendi trucks allow much higher storage densities than reach trucks or even VNA trucks. They are available in front wheel drive, rear wheel drive and 4x4 all wheel drive configurations to suit any operation.

For further information or case studies, visit www.bendi.co.uk


Click here to view the Translift Bendi Shopfront