Ikea has ordered a fleet of Flexi EURO forklifts.

Global home furnishings company Ikea has ordered a fleet of three Narrow Aisle articulated forklifts for its warehouse at its Milton Keynes store.

The Flexi EUROs will unload incoming vehicles and deliver palletised loads directly to the racking in the warehouse.

The Flexi EURO can lift 1,800kg (3,968lbs) and has lift heights of over eight metres (26 feet) in very narrow aisles, making it suitable for facilities where space is at a premium. It has a compact chassis and is ideal for general forklift duties like block stacking, drive-in racking and conventional very narrow aisle stacking.

Like other Flexi forklifts, the Flexi EURO can work inside and outside. This versatility allows Ikea to reduce double-handling at its facility. Instead of using counterbalanced forklifts and reach trucks, the Milton Keynes store now uses Flexi to unload trailers and put pallets directly into the racking, resulting in a smaller overall forklift fleet.

Narrow Aisle's sales and marketing director, John Maguire, says articulated forklifts enable pallets to be picked and put away faster than with a reach truck.

He explains that articulated forklifts do not waste time reaching in and out of the pallet and the racking to retrieve a load, making for a quicker work cycle.

"This allied to the fact that they can work both inside and outside was a big influence on Ikea's decision to use Flexi EUROs," Maguire says.