Crown Paints' growing Flexi fleet

Crown Paints has added further units to its existing fleet of Flexi articulated very narrow aisle (VNA) warehouse trucks which operate at the company's production facility in Hull.

Crown has operated Flexi trucks at the Hull site for over three years and Narrow Aisle is providing the new fleet with a service agreement that includes all planned maintenance, safety inspections and repairs rolled into a fixed monthly charge.

Operational efficiency at the Hull facility will be further enhanced thanks to an integrated battery charging solution designed and delivered by Narrow Aisle's Warehouse Systems Division.

Featuring 'call-forward' alert technology, the system identifies the most appropriate fully charged battery when a change is due, dramatically reducing Crown Paint's overall energy consumption and minimising truck fleet running costs as each truck needs just two batteries to deliver optimum performance over three shifts.

The new models acquired by Crown are the latest electric-powered Flexi Digital units. The trucks have been supplied with a high-definition LCD CCTV system to ensure that Crown's operators have a clear view of the load and the racking when retrieving and putting away pallets at the highest level.

In addition, the truck's HiVIS lift mast and specially developed integrated tilting and side shifting fork carriage eliminate mast deflection at the highest lift heights - making pallet movement fast and hugely efficient.

The trucks can operate safely both inside and outside the warehouse. This feature eliminates double handling and means that a single Flexi will do the work of two trucks: it unloads or loads vehicles like a counterbalance truck and operates within the VNA aisleways without needing costly guidance systems or pick and deposit stations at the end of an aisle.