Articulated picker debuts

Translift Bendi is using IMHX 2013 (Stand 19K100) to unveil two new products, an order picking articulated truck and a cold store cab for an articulated forklift.

Translift Bendi is returning to its roots by offering an innovative product designed for order picking, but this time, with a fascinating and cost-saving twist, says the company.

The name Translift was synonymous with order picking for many years, before revolutionising the materials handling industry with the introduction of the Bendi articulated fork truck.

It was during a visit to a large customer that Bendi MD Simon Brown (pictured), came up with the idea of an articulated truck that combines a man-up order picker after noting inefficiencies in the picking operation. The customer, a wholesaler of toiletries and household brands, use a Bendi for order picking and for replenishment of empty pallet positions.

Simon explains: "With the demand for next-day deliveries now becoming the norm, customers are moving a larger proportion of their available floor space over to picking rather than bulk storage.

"While most picking operations are carried out with great efficiency, there remains a sticking point when an order picker picking at ground level reaches an empty pallet location. The operative will put out a call for the reach truck to bring down a pallet from the second level, which interrupts the picking process and causes unnecessary delays or missed picks." It was here that the idea for an articulated order picking truck was born.

After considering a number of alternatives, Bendi will launch a three-masted man-up order picker capable of 360 degree picking from a height of 5m.

With the cost of storing pallets in a cold store being up to three times higher than in a conventional ambient warehouse, any small reduction in the space required can dramatically reduce costs. The Bendi Arctic, with its innovative full cold store cab, can show up to 50% aisle reductions offering huge benefits to cold store costs.

Either the size of the cold store can be reduced by 30% or by increasing the number of pallets in the store to spread the same costs.

Smaller cold stores and cheaper build cost go without saying, along with lower running costs, but thanks to the Bendi design the floor specification is far less expensive than that of a reach or VNA machine and also it does not require guidance systems which can be unreliable in cold stores.