Tilley's, which had been using reach trucks in its warehouse, has turned to articulated trucks to overcome its storage space problem.

Traditional English boiled sweet maker Tilley's has turned to articulated trucks to solve its storage space problem as demand grows for its confectionary products.

Tilley's, which had been using reach trucks in its warehouse, wanted a system that would enable it to store more finished product yet retain 100% pallet accessibility at ground level for order picking. This meant that drive-in or double-deep storage solutions were deemed unsuitable.

Part of the Zed Candy Company, Tilley's warehouse unit in Kettering is surrounded by green belt land and so developing the overall size of the site to meet increased demand was out of the question.

After exploring options including wire-guided VNA trucks, Tilley's project team decided that the most space- and cost-efficient solution was a very narrow aisle pallet racking system served by Flexi VNA articulated forklifts.

After implementing the changes, Tilley's on-site storage capacity increased by about 30% and the number of picking locations also increased by a similar margin. The new warehouse layout is designed around 1.6 metre-wide aisleways. Because the Flexi VNA's chassis is just one metre wide, there is enough clearance on either side for the truck to travel quickly and safely down the aisles.

Speed of pallet put-away and pick, as well as safe operation of the truck at a fast pace, were important factors for Tilley's fast-moving operation, says Flexi sales and marketing director John Maguire.

"If there is insufficient clearance between the truck and the racking, the operator has no choice but to dramatically reduce travel speed within the aisles as there is very little margin for error.

"This speed reduction is clearly counter-productive to any benefits the user may have derived by being able to add extra pallet positions by cutting the aisle dimensions. We always ensure that on each pallet storage solution we help to design, the operational clearances are safe and efficient," he explains.