Great Bear, the leading third party logistics specialist have introduced another articulated forklift trucks at its major multi-user hub which is located in Brackmills Northampton. The new vehicles have been supplied by Narrow Aisle. six of the seven new Flexi HiMAX that has been delivered by Narrow Aisle will be used in the 24/7 operations of the facility. The seventh vehicle is a sub-core truck and has been supplied on a low hour contract in order to be used as a stand-by truck. This extra vehicle means that Great Bear will have the capacity for busier periods and seasonal peaks in demand in order to make sure that they are able to operate at 100% fleet capacity all year round.

The type of forklift truck selected by the logistics company, the Flexi HiMAX is able to operate on aisle ways as narrow as 2000mm. The design on the forklift also meant that it can allow for pallet loads to me stacked up to 12 meters high at the Brackmills hub. At the Northampton site, the throughput cycle for pallets are 30 per hour and are being achieved in the facility’s 70-metre-long aisles. This cycle speed compares very well against either guided man-up or traditional reach type forklift trucks often used in warehousing.

In addition to the seven new forklift vehicles that have been supplied to the third party logistics company, Narrow Aisle Ltd has been working with the company to supply their newly launched Easi-Charge battery changing management system at the Brackmills hub. The battery charging bay at Great Bear’s site has been completely reconfigured by Narrow Aisle, meaning that just 14 batteries are needed now to deliver the optimal energy capacity for the Flexi fleet to be its most efficient during the logistics company 24/7 operations. The flexi trucks have been supplied to Great Bear as a part of a five-year inclusive contract rental package that covers all scheduled maintenance, safety inspections and repairs.