Entry level VNA made easy

Bendi has long had a strong reputation for design innovation. Its latest product - the Bendi SpaceMate - continues that trend.

The SpaceMate attaches to any forklift and, using a bridging principle, the attachment extends to back of the rack, lifting a load of up to 1.3 tonnes. The usual 100mm clearance is not required, therefore reducing wasted space. Lasers help to position the forklift's load in the sweet spot. 

Bendi MD Simon Brown says: "The standard reaction at the show (IMHX) has been - why has no one thought of this before? We've got patents on this and we're very excited about its potential."

Customers who have an existing forklift can use a SpaceMate to reduce aisle size to 1800mm at dramatically lower cost than either of the two conventional methods - an articulated truck or a VNA truck.

Bendi sees the key customer here as those who are eying very narrow aisle configurations but balk at the cost of making it happen. In these days of increasing pressure on warehouse space, as well as tightly focused budgets, we would not be surprised if this represents a fairly sizeable market.

"The SpaceMate can give users an entry level solution. If you can only afford one narrow aisle truck, you may feel it is too risky to depend on one machine. Now you can have a SpaceMate at a fraction of the cost of a truck. Therefore the SpaceMate should complement our articulated truck sales and appeal to a wider market.

"There's lots of other potential customers," explains Simon. "Some will look at a SpaceMate in addition to a VNA truck or an articulated truck, to help cover peak periods while managing costs. The SpaceMate will allow conventional forklifts to provide backup in the narrow aisles."

Safety has been a prime concern for Bendi during the development of the product.

"For safety, you have to have four points of the load resting on the rack," says Simon. "We consulted with SEMA on safety standards for pallet racking and storage and took their advice into account."

Bendi sees itself as a design house, with a role in design and development, as they plan to licence the solution to others for manufacture.

As the SpaceMate can fit in the back of a transit van, Bendi sees the product having great potential with forklift manufacturers and dealers, as well as end users. It will give dealers an option of delivering a low cost, easy to install VNA solution, which will be particularly pertinent when customers want to act quickly to maximise the gains of warehouse re-configuration.