Bakery gets cold store flexibility

Mantinga UK, the Gloucester-based bakery products supplier, has increased the storage capacity in its cold chamber by over 40%, thanks to a new Flexi G3C compact articulated truck specially developed for lower lift and lighter loads by Narrow Aisle.

The Flexi G3C's ability to increase pallet storage space by up to 50% compared with reach and counterbalance trucks, combined with its capability to off-load road vehicles, have helped reduce warehouse logistics costs.

While the Flexi concept has been around for 10 years, the truck has now been developed for continuous low temperature operation in cold stores. Its novel battery change facility allows spare batteries to be transported by a pallet truck in and out of the store.

When Mantinga redeveloped its cold store it reconfigured the pallet racking and installed Flexi G3C. The 40% increase in storage space is achieved because the truck is narrower and shorter than before, making it suitable for operating in buildings up to 7m high and with loads up to 1,500kg.

Unlike traditional very narrow aisle trucks, the Flexi does not require the cost and inconvenience of mechanical or inductive wire guidance. Also, it does not need special pallet racking -- standard adjustable racking is fine.

Compared with a conventional reach truck, it enables operators to store at least 30% more pallets -- simply by saving the extra space a reach truck requires to turn into the racking and the extra clearance required to lift over reach legs. This space saving increases to a dramatic 50% when compared with counterbalance truck aisles. The Flexi can load/unload lorries and delivers pallets into racking in a single operation.

Contact: Narrow Aisle, Tel: 0121 557 6242​