Natco selected five Flexi G4 HiMAX articulated VNA trucks

Two UK warehouses have opted for different very narrow aisle (VNA) solutions - both from local manufacturers.

Natco Foods Ltd, a wholesaler of Asian foods and part of the Choithram Group of Companies, evaluated its needs when it relocated to a new purpose-built production facility and distribution centre at Buckingham, near Milton Keynes.

Meanwhile, Gloucester-based Online Packaging, one of the UK's largest suppliers of industrial packaging materials, made its switch to improve warehouse efficiency. Rising contract sizes convinced Online to change from block stacking to aisle-based, adjustable pallet racking (APR) for its 2,500-pallet store.

When Natco selected the 150,000 sq ft (13,900 sq m) Buckingham site for its relocation, it was able to "completely overhaul our logistics function and consider the options that would enable us to bring genuine efficiencies throughout our operation," says Sajid Khoker, Natco operations manager.

Key to the operation is its dispatch warehouse, where product is stored within 16 aisles of adjustable pallet racking (APR) which, when fully developed, will provide over 70,00 pallet positions at seven levels with a top beam height of over 10 metres.

The warehouse was designed to allow low-level order picking from ground level (and, in the future, first level locations) and at the present time, orders are picked from over 2,000 SKUs in some 1,000 ground-level picking locations.

Natco's priorities were keeping aisle widths to a minimum but allowing access to accommodate a high degree of ground-level order picking locations.

Online Packaging, on the other hand, needed to extend its pallet stacking an additional 9 metres from the previous four-pallet high block stacking. By economising on aisle widths and making better use of height, Online's warehouse manager, Maurice Jotham, believes the company can store twice as many pallets as before.

Natco considered guided VNA Turret trucks for its Buckingham site, but rejected these because they would have impeded the low-level order picking tasks. Man-up Combi trucks were also rejected as too dangerous - again because of the risks to workers below.

Instead, Natco chose a fleet of five Flexi G4 HiMAX articulated VNA trucks from Narrow Aisle Ltd. The Flexi's design enables it to load like a counterbalanced machine - outside the aisles - but it can also work in very narrow aisles.

This dual-purpose functionality guarantees the user a wide range of benefits - not the least of which is the ability to load and unload lorries, then deliver pallets directly from goods-in to the pallet racking in a single operation, according to Flexi.

Online, meanwhile, opted for the Hi-Lift articulated forklift range produced by Redditch-based Translift Bendi. It installed a B318 three-wheeler model which can comfortably work in 1.6 metre wide aisles and will lift 800 kg to 9 metres. Online's maximum pallet load is 600 kg but pallet sizes vary widely, including double width pallets.

Apart from the inherent safety advantages of the truck's design, including better load vision, lack of rear-end swing, hill start and safe load rotation, the Bendi comes with safety features such as reversing bleeper and flashing light, according to the company.

"We can get twice as many pallets in our warehouse now," says Jotham. "We would have lost hundreds of bays if we had chosen a counterbalanced or reach truck instead of a Bendi."